| BF 1131 


I .D62 1 


J 1854 ] 


J Copy 1 












LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DD01373DfifiA 






t^M.' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



<&ty- fcT-UiV { 



// 3 



-+U4 



# 



XITED STATES OP AMERICA. i\ 



|Q ■%1>'ife, -%.%■-%■ *>■%>< 



SIX LECTURES 



PHILOSOPHY OF MESMERISM, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



MARLBORO' CHAPEL, BOSTON, 



BY JOHN BOVEE DODS. 



REPORTED BY A HEARERe 



TWELFTH THOUSAND. 



NEW YORK: 
FOWLERS & WELLS, 131 NASSAU-STREET 
AND 142 WASIIINGTON-STBEET, BOSTON. 
1854. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 

Bt FOWLERS & WELLS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
Yew York. 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO THE IMPROVED AND STEREOTYPED EDITION. 

Within one month after these highly popular 
lectures were first delivered, an edition of three 
thousand copies was published and sold, and a 
second edition called for, which has also been 
exhausted, and the demand is still increasing.* 
Under these circumstances the author was pre- 
vailed on to revise, enlarge, and so improve 
the work as to render it, if possible, even much 
more desirable. 

The merits of the work may be inferred from 
this fact: an audience of over two thousand 
people, composed of the most intelligent citizens 
of New England, was held six evenings in suc- 
cession, chained in the most profound silence, 
listening to these truly philosophical lectures, and 

* This work has recently been re-published in England, and has 
oeen favorably received by the most scientific men of Europe, 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

witnessing surgical operations without pain; and 
Other experiments, at once convincing, and full 
of great practical utility to every human being. 

The author, Dr. Dods, is a man of extensive 
experience and general information. He first 
qualified himself for the medical profession, then 
engaged in the study of theology, and has been 
in the ministry for more than twenty years, and 
is favorably known as a lecturer on many of the 
natural sciences. 

S. E. WELLS, 

Phrenological Cabisst, 131 Nassau street. New York. 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE I. 



V 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, INTRODUCTORY LECTURE ON ..... page 7-17 

Invitation by Members of the Legislature to lecture on the Science of Animal Mag- 
netism — Wresting the Science from the hands of ignorant and designing Individ- 
uals — Skepticism — The cry of Humbug and Collusion supplies the place of sound 
argument — Galileo, Harvey, Fulton — The Science of Phrenology — Truth can 
never die — Denouncing before investigation — Mesmerism embraced by men whose 
names will live always — Animal Magnetism an inappropriate Name — Mind, jmd 
its powers — The Law of Equilibrium — The Earth not Eternal — Mountains — Wa- 
lter— Experiments— Electrical Science — Causes of Thunder and Lightning — The 
Nervo-vital Fluid passing from one Body to another— The Nervous System — 
Blood— Brain— Insensibility — Who can and who ought to be Mesmerized — Phys- 
ical Energy— Process of Magnetizing. 



LECTURE II. 

MENTAL ELECTRICITY, OR SPIRITUALISM 18-29 

The Why and Wherefore of Mesmerism — Experiment— Fact — Physical, Mental, and 
Moral Power — A Lesser Power may Mesmerize a Greater Power — Galvanic Bat- 
tery—Coloring of the Blood — Voluntary and Involuntary Motion — Power of the 
Will — Execution of Criminals — Experiments on the Body after death — The 
Corpse made to move — Attraction and Repulsion — Insanity — Time requisite to 
produce Insensibility — A Child can Mesmerize its Father — Importance of being 
Mesmerized. 



LECTURE III. 

AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE SCIENCE 50-44 

. The Power of the Creator — The Origin of Matter — John Milton — The World not 
created out of Nothing — The Eternal Existence of Electricity — Spirit and Matter * 
.—The Gradual Creation of Plants — The Sun pure Electricity — Worlds Electrically 
and Magnetically suspended — Experiments with the Electrifying Machine — The 
Magnet— The Beauty, Order, and Harmony of all the Laws of Nature. 



v/ 



CONTENTS. 

LECTURE IV. 

TI1F. PHILOSOPHY OF CLAIRVOYANCE .... 44-58 

Mind Motion Thn Brain— The Expansion and Contraction :.{ Bodies by Heat 
and Cold— Vision without the Natural Organs — Somnambulism — Dreaming — 
j — Pr. Patterson — Well-authenticated facta — An Appeal to Medical Gen- 
Feats of Climbing and Walking on House-tops in the Dark while 
in a State of Unconsciousness— Painting in the Dark — A Remarkable Fact — Seeing, 
Hearing, Tasting, and Smelling — The Transparency of Objects — Magnetic or Gal- 
..>• Light— Distinguished Clairvoyants in the United States— Additional Ex- 
periments — Philosophy of Hearing — Amputated Limb — Hon. T. G. Greenwood 
—A Fact. 



LECTURE V. 

THE NUMBER OF DEGREES IN MESMERISM 60-71 

The First Degree — Attraction by the Magnetizer — Second. Degree — Third Degree — 
Fourth Degree — Filth Degree Clairvoyance — Communication — Experiment — 
Why is not Magnetism more generally understood — Objections answered— 
Demosthenes — Cicero — The Methodists— Muscular Power — Concentration— Tho 
Dangers and Abuse of Mesmerism — Every blessing abused — Crime— Causes — 
Magnetizing a part, and not the whole body — A Surgical Operation — A Broken 
Arm — A Tumor extracted without Pain — Rev. John Pierpont testifies publicly to 
the Truth and Utility of Mesmerism — The Wonderful Power to Charm all Pain. 



LECTURE VI. 

OUR SAVIOUR AND THE APOSTLES 72-82 

The right to think for ourselves — Resti-ictions — The Command of Christ to his 
Apostles to Ileal the Sick, as well as to Preach— Miracles — Palsied Arm — The 
Saviour and tha Woman — The Apostolic Power — John the Revelator — Trans- 
6guration— Moses and Elias— The Crucifixion cf Christ — His Resurrection, &c. 
— Dr. Channing on Dying without P&'.n, 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 



LECTURE I. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : It is with much pleasure 
that I present myself before you this evening, to lecture 
upon the science of Animal Magnetism, I do this by 
special invitation from several distinguished members 
of both branches of our legislature, now in session in 
this city ; and this thronged congregation of more than 
two thousand hearers speak the interest which is awak- 
ened in the bosoms of our citizens in relation to this 
subject. This dense and anxious crowd too plainly 
manifest the high expectations which are entertained 
of the feeble abilities of the speaker to do it justice — 
expectations which I am fully sensible I shall be unable 
to answer. Leaning, however, upon the solid grandeur 
of truth, and believing that to be stirring eloquence 
and living power, I have, therefore, even as things now 
are, with all your roused expectations crowding upon 
me, but little to hazard, for I am fully sensible that I 
am standing before a learned and an intelligent congre- 
gation. And when I inform you that I have never 
written any thing upon this subject, and am, therefore, 
obliged to speak from the fortuitous suggestions of the 



LECTURES ON 



moment, I am conscious that you will do me justice,' 
by making eveiy reasonable allowance. , 

It is not my profession to lecture upon this subject. 
] have other means lor my subsistence, and for that 
of those who depend upon me. Circumstances have 
called me into the field. Many, very many ignorant 
individuals, who know nothing of the human system, 
nor of the common principles of any science, have gone 
into the field as lecturers on Animal Magnetism, and 
by making it a mere puppet-show, have brought it into 
degradation in the public mind. Such persons are 
doing the cause, which is one of benevolence and mercy, 
an irreparable injury. They had better qualify them- 
selves for the work, or else retire from the field. In 
this state of things, I was urged, by several scientific 
gentlemen, to step forward in defence of the cause of 
righteousness and truth, and to lend my aid in raising 
it from the dust, in wiping off the sneers of men, and in 
placing it on a foundation where it should command not 
only the attention, but the respect and admiration which 
are justly due to it from men of science and talents. 
In this city, I find but one noble spirit laboring and 
toiling, who is well qualified for the work, and who is 
deserving a better patronage than he receives.* As 
these are the circumstances under which I have en- 
tered the field, so, of course, I vis't those places only 
where I am invited to lecture upon this science. 

I have had the subject of Mesmerism under consider- 
ation foi about seven years, reading all that came in 
my way for and against it. Five of these years I re- 
mained a stubborn, a most confirmed sceptic, and 

* Dr\ Gilbert. 



inima:, magnetism. 9 

refused even to attend a lecture, or to witness an ex- 
periment, until I was persuaded by a particular friend 
of niine to accompany him, and see and hear for myself. 
I am, therefore, prepared to make all due allowance for 
honest sceptics ; and, in their opposition to me during 
this course of lectures, I shall maintain an entire em- 
pire over, my feelings ; and being fully sensible of 
their condition, I well know how to sympathize with 
them. But there is yet another class of sceptics, who 
have witnessed experiments which they cannot resist, 
and still cry, " humbug and collusion !" Of these, 
there are two kinds. First, those who never investi- 
gate anything for themselves, and who do not know 
the definitions of the words, " humbug and collusion ;" 
but who, nevertheless, use them very freely, because 
they have heard their minister, their doctor, or, per- 
chance, their schoolmaster, use them. They do it by 
Imitation, on the same principle that the parrot imitates 
the sound of the human voice, and they do it just about 
as understandingly. Second, those who are talented, 
and desire to keep on the wings of the popular breeze, 
and catch the breath of fame. These may be known by 
the ridicule, wit, and sarcasm they employ, through the 
press and otherwise. But, "humbug and collusion" have 
become stereotyped words, and their use costs but little 
labor ; and they answer most admirably to supply the 
place of sound argument and common sense in the most 
of minds. If my hearers will please turn their atten- 
tion to all the talented writers, who have, in various 
ages, vehemently opposed those now well-established 
, sciences which, in their infancy, appeared incredible, 
and who assailed them with the bitterest invective and 
sarcasm, they will learn that they were men who were 



10 1 ECTURES ON 

always studying what was popular, and who had a 
large share oi self-esteem, and of the love of approba- 
tion. This test will hold good from the opposers of tlm 
earth's revolution on its axis, discovered by Galileo; 
from the scoffers at the science of the circulation of the 
human blood, discovered by Harvey, step by step, 
down to the scoffers at Fulton's application of steam- 
power, — yes, even down to the opposers of, and scoffers 
at, the brilliant science of Phrenology, which is now 
spreading with a power that can never be successfully 
resisted, a zeal that cannot be quenched, and a liv- 
ing energy that can never die. True, a candid man, as 
well as any other, may doubt a new science ; yet, how- 
ever strange or incomprehensible it may appear, he will 
not denounce till he has given the subject a candid in- 
vestigation. I am speaking of those only who denounce 
without investigation, and who can assign no other 
reason for so doing, but their own willing ignorance, 
or because the popular voice is against it. 

I am, however, proud in the reflection that the science 
of Mesmerism is embraced by men of the first talents 
and science in both continents, and whose names will 
live in the republic of letters, and shine with lustre long 
after those of fawning sycophants shall have been lost 
in unremembered nothingness. It is embraced here 
among us by a Pierpont, the Fowlers, a Gilbert, a Neal, 
and a Wayland. It is embraced by men who have 
forgotten more than those who cry " humbug and col- 
lusion" ever knew. 

I have been in the field as an occasional lecturer ever 
since October, 1841, and have uniformly advocated the 
same principles which I am now about to advance and 
sustain in the course ^f lectures I am pledged to deliver 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 11 

in this city. This fact, many now present well know, 
who have heard me in other sections, or who have 
seen the substance of what I have now to offer on 
Mesmerism, reported by the editor of the Yarmouth- 
port Register, in March, 1842. I shall here contend 
for the same principles, and endeavor to sustain them 
by fair experiments, in electricity, galvanism, and com- 
mon magnetism. 

There is one apology, however, to be offered in favor 
of honest sceptics. It is this: Those who have lectured 
upon Mesmerism have not pretended to give any 
cause for the wonderful phenomena produced — have 
held them in mystery, and perhaps pronounced them 
inscrutable to the human intellect. Hence, it is not 
strange that thousands, under such an impression, 
should refuse to investigate a subject which its advo- 
cates held in mystery. That there are mysteries in 
Mesmerism I readily admit ; but that there are more 
than in any other science, I deny. We may, for in- 
stance, tell the chemical properties of earth, water, and 
air, and the degree of warmth necessary to produce 
vegetation. But still no one can solve the mystery 
how an acorn becomes an oak, or a seed becomes a 
plant. There is no science in the universe, but what has 
some incomprehensibilities resting upon its face ; but 
this circumstance is considered no objection to the truth 
of any science. Hence there is no reason why Mes- 
merism should be rejected on this ground. Yet thou- 
sands do reject it, because they contend that it is 
incomprehensibly strange ! They know nothing but 
what is strange, and yet what is strange they cannot 
believe ! All the operations of nature going on around 
us are strange, and the only reason we have ceased to 



13 LECTURES ON 

wonder is, because they are common. All such ob- 
jections are therefore futile. 

Before 1 proceed any further, I would remark that I 
sider "Animal Magnetism" a very inappropriate 
name. It should be called Spiritualism, or Mental 
Electricity, because it is the direct impulse of mind 
upon the minds and bodies of others. As it is the science 
of mind and its rowEiis, so it is the highest and most 
sublime science in the whole realms of nature, and as 
far transcends all others as godlike mind transcends 
matter. 

Having made these introductory remarks, I now 
proceed more directly to the consideration of the sub- 
ject before me. In presenting before you " the why 
and the wherefore" of these interesting phenomena, 
and, in order to make them plain to the humblest ca- 
pacity, it will be necessary to associate the subject with 
other principles in philosophy which are well under- 
stood by all, and thus rise from the consideration of the 
more gross and dense particles of matter, step by step, 
up to those which are the most rarified and subtil of 
which we can form any conception. In doing this, I 
shall not take into consideration every possible grade 
or species of matter, but those substances only which 
belong to the great classifications of nature's empire, 
and which are the most obvious to every observer. 

In the first place, then, I contend that there is but 
one common law pervading the whole universe of God, 
which is the law of equilibrium. In perfect accord- 
ance with this law there is kept up a constant action 
and reaction throughout every department of nature. 
It is true there has been much written, and still more 
said, about the multiplicity and variety of the laws of 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 13 

lure But this is, at least to me, wholly unintelligible. 
While, however, I contend for but one common law, it 
is still conceded that this law is so varied as to be 
perfectly adapted to all the variety of substances in 
being. On this principle the earth is certainly not 
eternal, for w r ere it so, the hills and mountains would 
long ago have been washed to a level by the storms of 
heaven ; yes, it would have been done by the gentle 
descending dews. Indeed, I hazard nothing in saying, 
that even the mountains of solid granite would have 
been crumbled into atoms ages ago, by the very opera- 
tion of the particles of air — " the fingers of Time ;" 
because every thing in nature is tending to an equi- 
librium. 

Having begun at the grossest particles of matter, let 
us now rise gradually in our contemplations, step by 
step, up to those that are the most rarified and subtil of 
which we can form any conception. Water is a body 
lighter than earth. Let a canal be dug of one hundred 
feet in depth, one hundred in width, and a thousand 
feet in length. Let a strong lock be constructed across 
its centre, and one half filled with water. Let the gate 
be hoisted, and the water in the one division will fall, 
and in the other rise, until an equilibrium of height is 
attained. Nature, having gained her end, is then at 
rest. And the action of this element will be great in 
proportion as it was thrown out of balance. The 
rush will be at first tremendous, but continue gradu- 
ally to lessen until it finds its perfect slumber in equal 
height. 

The same is true in relation to our atmosphere, a sub- 
stance lighter than water. The air in this room is now 
arified by heat, and is thus thrown out of balance with 
2 



1 i LE ITURES ON 

the circumambient air, which is more cold and dense. 
Hence, through every key-hole and crevice there is a 
rush of this element into the room, which will continue 
until the equilibrium o( density is attained. Then, and 
DOl before, nature, having gained her end, will be at 
rest. The air in one section of the globe is more rari- 
fied by heat than in another ; and hence the gentle 
zephyrs of heaven are continually fanning the human 
brow with a touch of delight, and carrying health to 
human habitations. If this element be thrown still 
farther out of balance, we witness the stirring gale; 
and if carried, in this respect, to its extreme, we wit- 
ness the sweeping hurricane, or the roaring tornado, 
which prostrates human habitations in its mighty course, 
and bows the mountain forest to the earth. 

The same is true in relation to electricity, a substance 
more rarified and light than air. If two ^clouds are 
equally charged with this subtil fluid, they may pass 
and repass each other, or mingle into one, yet not a 
flash of lightning will be seen. But if they are une- 
qually charged, or what is called in electrical science, 
44 positively and negatively charged," then the heavens 
will stream with forked lightningTtill both clouds are 
equally charged. By long drought and heat, electricity 
becomes very unequally diffused throughout the atmos- 
phere. One portion of air contains a much greater 
quantity than another, and when thus thrown out of 
balance to a certain extreme, nature can hold out no 
longer. A reaction must take place. Convolving- 
clouds roll the heavens in darkness — the lightnings 
flash, the thunders roll, and the war of elements con- 
tinues until the electric fluid is equally diffused through- 
out the atmosphere, and also equalized with the earth. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 15 

Nature, having thus gained her end in he equilibrium 
produced, is at rest — all is calm. 

If we pass on from inert matter to animated nature, 
we shall find thit the same law there also holds its em- 
pire. If, for instance, a healthy child, three or four 
years of age, be permitted to sleep every night for a 
year or two between two very old, decrepit grandparents, 
it w T ill pine away, and if not removed, perchance it may 
die. There is, perhaps, not one under the sound of my 
voice, but what has heard the remark, that " it is very 
unhealthy for young children to sleep with very old, in- 
firm people." It is even so, and parents should beware. 
The child is full of animal life, and its nervous system 
is charged with the vital fluid, secreted by the brain. 
This gives that suppleness to the limbs, and that buoy- 
ancy to the heart which we witness in the young. The 
grandparents lack the proper quantity of this nervo- 
vital fluid, which occasions that rigidity of the limbs 
we witness in the aged. The same common law of 
equilibrium that pervades the universe, is here also in 
operation. The nervo-vital fluid passes from this child 
to the two aged persons in conjunction. The child 
loses, and they continue to revive, and as this little one 
can never bring those infirm persons up to an equilib- 
rium with itself, so it must go down to them. Nature 
will have her equilibrium, if she has it in death. 

Once more : there is in the nervous system no blood. 
By the nervous system I mean the brain and all its 
ramifications. The blood belongs exclusively to the 
circulating system, which embraces the veins and arte- 
ries. I grant that the blood-vessels pass round the 
convolutions of the brain; but in the nerve itself there is 
no blood, and the whole mass of brain is but a congeries 






1G tECTURBS ON 

of nerves. These are charged with a nervo-vital fluid, 
which is manufactured from electricity. Hence,** the 
circulating system containing the blood, and the nervous 
system containing the magnetic fluid, are not to be 
blended, but distinctly considered. Now, as a human 
being may lack the proper quantity of blood in his cir- 
culating system, so he may lack the proper quantum of 
the nervo-vital fluid in his nervous system. This is 
certainly rational. And, moreover, it may be easily 
known when such is the case. When we see persons, 
who, on hearing suddenly some good or bad news, 
are thrown into great excitement, tremor, and agitation, 
we may be certain that their nervous systems lack the 
due measure of the nervo-vital fluid. Now let a person 
whose brain is fully charged, come in contact with one 
whose brain is greatly wanting in its due measure of 
this fluid, and let the person possessing the full brain 
gently and unchangeably hold his friind upon the other, 
and by the action of the will, the fluid will pass from 
the full brain to the other, until the equilibrium between 
the fluids in the two brains is attained. The sudden 
change in the receiving brain produces a coolness and a 
singular state of insensibility. This is magnetism; and 
it is in perfect accordance with all the principles of 
philosophy in the known realms of nature. If any one 
denies the operation of the law of equilibrium in this case, 
then lie here makes a chasm, amidst the immensity of 
God's works, which he can nowhere else discover. 
I have clearly shown him that, from the grossest matter 
in the universe, step by step, through every grade, up to 
electricity, the same law holds its empire, and matter is 
continually equalizing itself with matter. 

On this principle, it will be readily perceived that, if 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 17 

a person aas a great deficiency of the nervo-vital fluid, 
he can be mesmerized the first sitting, and probably in 
an hour's time, or a much less period. These we call 
easy subjects. But if the deficiency be less, it will take 
a longer period in proportion, and if the brain have 
nearly its proper quantity of fluid, then the effect pro- 
duced, at the first sitting, will be small, yet still it 
will be visible. 

From the premises laid down, and in accordance with 
the law of equilibrium, it will probably be said, that only 
few persons can be mesmerized. This, however, is not 
correct. I contend that every person in existence can 
be, and indeed ought to be thrown into the mesmeric 
state. This, I am well aware, is contrary to the opinion 
of the advocates of this science. The most liberal cal- 
culation I have as yet heard, is that about one in nine of 
the human family can be mesmerized. But every one 
can be, and that, too, in perfect accordance with the 
principles laid down. Let two persons of equal brains, 
both in size and fluid, sit down. Let one of these in- 
dividuals remain perfectly passive, and let the other ex- 
ercise his mental and physical energies according to the 
true principles of mesmerizing, and he will displace 
some of the nervo-vital fluid from the passive brain and 
deposit his own in its stead. The next day let them sit 
another hour, and so on, day after day, until the acting 
brain shall have displaced the major part of the nervo- 
vita. fluid from the passive brain and filled up that space 
with his own nervous force, and the person will yield to 
the magnetic power, and sweetly slumber in its inexpres- 
sible quietude. 

2* 



LECTURE II. 

Lae.es and Gentlemen: On the last evening, I haci 
the pleasure to deliver before you my introductory lec- 
ture on the science of Spiritualism, and to explain 
" the why and the wherefore" of the effect produced. 
I clearly showed that Mesmerism was in perfect ac- 
cordance with the universal law of nature, which I call 
the law of Equilibrium ; and, as I, in concluding my lec- 
ture, contended that every person in the world could 
be mesmerized, some, as I suspected would be the case, 
have to-day argued that, according to the principle laid 
down by the speaker, two brains of equal power can no 
more mesmerize each other, than one of a less pow r er 
can mesmerize a greater ; and hence, that the argu- 
ments of the lecturer are contradictory and irreconcila- 
ble. But this objection is by no means valid. It is 
readily conceded that two brains equally full and 
healthy cannot affect each other, admitting both persons 
to be equal in muscular energy, a.nd to make at the same 
time the same mental and physical effort. But, if one 
person sit down and passively resign himself, and an- 
other even of less power and less nervo-vital fluid exert 
aJ his energies, then the law of equilibrium requires 
that t.iere shall be an effect produced in the passive 
object equal to all the power exerted by the active 
agent. Hence, a weaker person can mesmerize one of 
superior power, and the same persons may alternately 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 19 

throw each other into the mesmeric state. I have 
known the instance where a small girl, only nine years 
of age, mesmerized a young man twenty years old, and 
of uncommon strength. Though it is a well known 
law, that two bodies of water will seek a level when a 
communication is made between them, yet it is equally 
true that, by a pump, water may be thrown from a 
lower to a higher cistern ; and who will deny that it is 
in perfect accordance with the law of equilibrium ? 
Surely, no one. It is by physical energy that the air is 
removed from the pump, and the circumambient air 
pressing upon the water in the cistern, causes it to rise 
till an equilibrium of height is attained — exactly equal 
to all the powers employed. But so far as the mes- 
meric state is concerned, it will be remembered, that 
man, in acting on his fellow-man, exerts not only a 
physical, but a mental, and moral power. These 
must all be taken into consideration, and duly weighed, 
in order to form a correct idea of the law of equilib- 
rium in the employment of the magnetic forces. If this 
common law in nature extended no farther than merely 
to bring substances that are out of balance down to a 
common level, then all action in the various elements 
would soon cease. 

It will be remembered that no one kindred element ever 
disturbs itself, or ever throws itself out of balance. It 
requires another element to do this. The water would 
always keep on a perfect level with itself, throughout 
the globe, if air and heat never disturbed it. By heat 
it is rarified into vapors, carried over the globe in 
aerial conductors, condensed by cold into drops, and 
rained upon the mountains and more elevated portions 
of the gfobe, and then again seeks its level with the 



30 LECTURE?! ON 

parent ocean. So there is a power that rarities the air 
and the denser portions rush to its aid, and the winds 
are in action to keep up a perfect balance in its own 
empire, while air, abstractly, could never disturb itself. 
Hence it is even the law of equilibrium by which one 
portion of water is thrown out of balance with itself; 
and the same is also true in relation to the atmosphere. 
if heat, which is but the action of electricity, rarifies the 
water so as to cause it in subtility to approximate itself, 
then surely it is according to the law r of equilibrium 
that water is thrown out of balance with itself by for- 
cing it into a partial equilibrium with some more rarified 
substance. Carrying out this principle, and applying it 
to Mesmerism, it will be readily understood not only 
how tw r o persons of equal power may mesmerize each 
other, but even how one of less physical power may 
mesmerize a greater, and yet the whole be effected in 
perfect accordance with the law of equilibrium. 

Having made these remarks, which the occasion 
seems to demand, I will now proceed to a direct consi- 
deration of the nervo-vital fluid in the human brain. 

It is admitted, that the air we breathe is composed of 
two substances, namely, oxygen and nitrogen. Their 
relative qualities are about one-fifth oxygen and four- 
fifths nitrogen. But these are not all. It is evident, 
that hydrogen and electricity are also component parts 
of air. Oxygen and electricity are the principles of 
(lame and of animal life, while nitrogen extinguishes 
both. There is not a single square inch of air but what 
contains more or less electricity. The air in its com- 
pound state is drawn into the lungs. The oxygen and 
electricity are communicated to the blood, which is 
charged with iron, while the nitrogen is disengaged 



ANIMAT. MAGNETISM. 21 

and expired. This iron, which gives color to the blood, 
is instantly rendered magnetic under the influence of 
electricity, analogous to the needles in the galvanic bat- 
tery, which become magnets merely by induction. The 
blood itself is, at the same time, oxydized by the oxygen 
of the air, and instantly becomes cherry red. This 
oxygen generates an acidity in the blood, in some de- 
gree answering to the solution of the sulphate of copper 
in the galvanic battery. The blood, thus magnetically 
prepared at the lungs, is thrown upon the heart, and 
forced into the arteries. Hence, arterial blood is red. 
It is propelled to the extremities, driven into every pos- 
sible ramification, and is collected and carried back in 
the veins, through the other ventricle of the heart, to 
the lungs, for a fresh supply cf the electro-magnetic 
power. Hence, venous blood is dark, and is unfit to 
be thrown into the arterial system a second time till it 
has again come in contact with the oxygen and electri- 
city of the air. The blood, thus discharged, is pro- 
pelled through its living channels, and this friction 
causes the electro-magnetic pow T er to escape from the 
circulating system into the nervous system, for which 
it has a strong affinity, and, being secreted by the brain, 
it becomes the nervo-vital fluid, or animal galvanism. 
It is important here to remark, that the blood, in its 
friction through the arteries, has given off its electro- 
magnetic power into the nervous system. The blood, 
thus freed, assumes a dark appearance in the veins, and 
becomes entirely negative. The lungs, being charged 
with a fresh supply of electricity, become positive. 
Hence the blood is drawn from the veins to the lungs 
on the same principle that the negative and the positive 
in electricity rush together, 



22 LECTURES ON 

From the aLove observations, it will be {.orqeived, 
that every muscle of the human body, every organ and 
gland, is polar, and by the negative and positive prin- 
ciples, as above noticed, animal lite is sustained and 
perpetuated through the action of the lungs and blood. 

We thus perceive thai the nervo-vital fluid is manu- 
factured out of electricity, taken into the lungs at every 
inspiration. It completely charges the whole brain, 
when that organ is in a healthy state. The nerves 
composing the brain, are of three kinds, namely : the 
nerves of sensation, the nerves of voluntary motion, 
and the nerves of involuntary motion. I make these 
three divisions, so that I may be the more readily under- 
stood when speaking of nervous action. I desire you 
to bear in mind that these three classes of nerves are 
all charged with the nervo-vital fluid, which is exactly 
prepared to come in contact with mind. 

We put forth a will. That will stirs the nervo- 
vital fluid in the voluntary nerves. This fluid causes 
the voluntary nerves to vibrate. The galvanic vibra- 
tion of these nerves contracts the muscles. The mus- 
cles, contracting, raise the arm, and that arm raises 
foreign matter. So we perceive that it is through this 
concatenation, or chain, that the mind comes in contact 
with the grossest matter in the universe. 

It is evident that there is no direct contact between 
mind and gross matter. There is no direct contact 
between the length of a thought and the breadth of that 
door. Nor is there any more direct contact between 
my mind and hand, than there is between my mind and 
the stage upon which I siand. Thought cannot touch 
my hand ; yet it must be true that mind can come 
in contact with matter; otherwise, I could not raise mv 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 23 

hand at all by the energies of my will. Hence, it must 
be true, (hat the highest and most subtil of inert mat- 
ter in the universe, being the next step to spirit, can 
come in contact with the mind. And electricity, 
changed into nervo-vital fluid, (which is living galvan- 
ism,) is certainly the highest and most etherial inert 
substance of which we can form any conception. 
Hence, as before remarked, it must be true, that we 
put forth a will. By the energies of that will this gal- 
vanic substance, or nervous fluid, is proudly stirred ; 
that stirring vibrates the nerves ; this vibrates and 
contracts the muscles ; the muscles raise the arm, and 
that arm moves dead matter. 

Notwithstanding the plausibility of this argument, it 
will yet be said that, as physiologists contend that no 
one can explain through what medium the mind comes 
in contact with matter, nor even how a muscle is made 
to contract, and raise the arm, and as the lecturer has 
undertaken to explain it, we have a right to demand 
positive proof. This demand being rational, I will en- 
deavor to meet it. I am, then, to prove that the nervo- 
vital fluid, (which is perfect galvanism,) is indeed the 
agent by which we contract the muscles and raise the 
arm. That being done, my point is gained, and the 
medium through which mind comes in contact with 
matter is established. 

I would first remark, that it is common when crimi- 
nals are executed, that their bodies are delivered over 
to medical men for dissection. Now take a human 
body, and let it be conveyed from the gallows to the 
charnel-house, and laid upon the dissecting-table. Let a 
continuous shock from a strong galvanic battery be 
given, and the muscles of the dead man will contract, 



24 LECTURES c\ 

and exhibit many frightful contortions. Many interest 
ing experiments of this character have been published. 
The dead man has been known to spring upon his knees, 
jolt them upon the iloor, make violent gesticulations 
with his hands, move his head, roll his eyes, and chatter 
his teeth. The student, unused to such ghastly exhibi- 
tions, has left the room, or fainted away ; and even the 
experienced physician has started back with horror at 
the frightful contortions which he himself had made. 
Now, what was it that contracted the muscles of this 
dead man ? There is but one answer to the question. 
It was galvanism. And what is galvanism, but electri- 
city in a changed form ; so that, instead of giving the 
system a sudden shock, like electricity, it merely pro- 
duces a singular vibrating sensation upon the nerves, 
which causes the muscles to contract? It is nothing 
else. Electricity, galvanism, magnetism, or attraction 
and repulsion, are but different dispositions of the same 
common fluid. Now, as galvanism contracts the mus- 
cles of a dead man, and is the only power known that, 
when artificially applied, can contract the muscles of 
the living, so it must be the agent employed by the will 
to contract the muscles, and enable us to perform all 
the voluntary motions of life. Whatever may be the 
opinions of others, I consider this argument irresistible, 
and shall hold it as such, until it be fairly refuted. 

It must now appear plain to every candid mind, that 
by the action of the will, and the exercise of all the men- 
tal powers, the nervo-vital fluid, this living galvanism, 
is continually thrown off from the voluntary nerves, and 
through the respiratory organs is again supplied. There 
is still, however, a greater waste. The involuntary 
nerves throw 7 off another large portion through the action 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 25 

of the heart and lungs, and the digestive apparatus. 
And the nerves of sensation, also, do their. part in throw- 
ing off this fluid. Let me here particularize. The 
nerves of sensation are those by which feeling is con- 
veyed to the mind. The voluntary nerves are those 
through which the mind gives motion to those parts of 
the body that are under the control of the will. The 
involuntary nerves are those that give motion to such 
parts of our system as are not under the control of the 
will. None but the involuntary nerves pass to the heart, 
stomach, and liver. So the heart will throb, the stomach 
digest its food, and the liver secrete its gall, when we 
are awake or asleep, whether we will it or not. But to 
the lungs go both the voluntary and involuntary nerves. 
The involuntary ones are, however, the most numerous, 
so that though a man may hold his breath and keep the 
lungs in suspension till he faints, yet the involuntary 
nerves will get the mastery, and restore him. Through 
these three sets of nerves the galvanic fluid is continu- 
ally wasting and passing from the whole system. 

That I am correct, as to the nature of this nervous 
fluid, is certain. Take an animal, and ti3 off the invol- 
untary nerves that lead to the stomach, and digestion 
will instantly cease. Then pour a moderate current of 
galvanism from the battery into the stomach, and diges- 
tion will immediately commence. Hence, I have clearly 
proved that the nervo-vital fluid, secreted by the brain, 
is of a galvanic nature, and is manufactured from elec- 
tricity which we breathe into the lungs every inspira- 
tion we take. And I have, moreover, proved that this 
electro-magnetic power is the only matter that can come 
in contact with mind, and is the only agent by which 
the will contracts the muscles. Hence, the conclusion 






36 LECTURES ON 

is absolutely unavoidable, that, by the concentration of , 
the mind upon an individual, and by the action ojf the 
will, this fluid can be thrown upon another person til] 
his nervous system is fullv charged. This is Mesmer- 
ism. 

Having these important facts before us, we perceive 
that the subject is one of momentous interest. The ner- 
vous system, embracing the brain and all its ramifica- 
tions, when once diseased, seems to baffle all medical aid 
and skill. Hence, those upon whom fits of derangement 
are permanently settled, are abandoned as hopeless ; and 
of both of these states, we are all more or less in danger. 
Those persons, particularly, who, on hearing the least 
good or bad news, are thrown into tremor and agitation, 
are in danger. Their brains lack the proper quantity 
of the nervo-vital fluid. It will be remembered that in 
the nerves of the brain there is no blood. The blood is 
exclusively confined to the veins and arteries, while the 
nerves are charged w T ith this nervo-vital fluid — a galvanic 
substance. Now if the veins and arteries are filled with 
blood, and if the nerves are fully charged with the gal- 
vanic fluid ; in one word, if the circulating system and 
the nervous system are in perfect balance, health and 
firmness are the result. But if the circulating system 
lack its proper quantity of blood, then languor and de* 
bility of body are the result. But if, on the other hand, 
the nervous system lack its proper quantity of galvanic 
fluid, then nervous excitability is the result, and the per- 
son is in danger of fits, derangement, and all the nervous 
diseases that attend the human race. This is evident 
from the following facts : Take a person who has a suf- 
ficiency of blood in the circulating system, but who, at 
the same time, has not enough of the galvanic fluid in 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 27 

his nervous system. By some circumstance the blood 
is suddenly thrown to his head, and the veins and arte- 
ries which pass round among the convolutions of the 
brain are swelled with this pressure. The nerves com- 
posing the brain not being sufficiently filled and braced 
with the galvanic fluid, spasmodically collapse, and a fit 
is the result. How often do persons, who suppose they 
are well, suddenly drop down dead in the streets ! How 
often has a father or mother retired to rest, and appa- 
rently in health, yet in the morning the children found 
one or the other a corpse ! Here, through eating too 
much, or some other cause, the blood was suddenly pro- 
pelled to the brain, and the nerves, not being sufficiently 
braced with the galvanic fluid, collapsed, and by apo- 
plexy, instant death ensued. Even the bosom compan- 
ion, slumbering upon the same pillow, never felt a mo- 
tion. 

Now if these persons had been mesmerized, no such 
calamity would have ensued. Their nervous system, 
by which I mean the w 7 hole brain and all its ramifica- 
tions, would have been charged from a full and healthy 
brain, and having been thus charged, it w 7 ould have 
stood the war of internal elements, and outrode the rush- 
ing storm. 

In the light our subject now stands, v/e perceive how 
vastly important it is that every person while at ease, or 
even in health, should be operated upon until the brain 
is magnetically subdued. As stated in my first lecture, 
one person can be mesmerized in an hour or less, anoth- 
er in two hours, and so on up to thirty hours. Let a 
healthy friend of yours sit down, one hour each day, 
until he subdues your brain. No person should mes- 
merize more than one hour in twenty- four The exer- 



28 LECTURES ON 

tion is so gr6at, he will injure himself if he do. Bu* 
here is the glory of this science. Though you may la- 
bor an hour each day for twenty or thirty days in sue- 
ression, yet what you gain, you hold, until the work is 
accomplished. And not only so, but after the brain is 
once magnetically subdued, you can then throw the per- 
son into the state in five minutes. Yes, a child ten years 
old can then mesmerize a giant father. Your brain be- 
ing magnetically subdued, it is worth hundreds of dollars 
to you. You are then ready for the day of distress. 
Come what may — toothache, headache, tic doloreux, 
neuralgia, or any pain of which you can conceive ; let 
some one mesmerize you and then wake you up, and the 
pain is gone. The whole process need not occupy more 
than ten minutes. Should you fall and break your arm, 
then let some person mesmerize the arm only, which can 
be done in one minute. You are free from pain, and 
though in your wakeful state, yet you can look quietly 
on, and see the bones put to their places. Your arm 
can then be kept in the mesmeric state, and thoroughly 
and rapidly healed without having ever experienced one 
single throb of pain. Or by simply mesmerizing your 
arm or leg, you can sit in the wakeful state and see them 
amputated, and feel no pain. But if you neglect to have 
your brain magnetically subdued, then when the day of 
distress comes upon you, as it might require several 
hours to put you into this state, it will then be too late 
to avail yourself of the blessings this science is calcula- 
ted to bestow. 

It is not only a preventative of fits, insanity, and of 
the most frightful nervous dissases, and a safeguard 
against pain, but it will cure fits, if no congestion of the 
brain has taken place. It never fails to remove the 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 29 

ague and fever, however long it may have been upon 
the individual, and will prevent any fevers prevalent in 
northern climates, if the individual be mesmerized as 
soon as taken. 

Here, then, are opening before us new fields of action, 
where those who have hearts of benevolence may freely 
roam at large, and find ample scope for the full gratifi- 
cation of all their sympathetic and Christian feelings, 
and those who scoff and sneer at this science, do scoff 
and sneer at human wo and human pain, and know not 
what thev do. 



SO LECTURES on 



LECT L RE III. 

Ladies ano Gentlemen : The two lectures I have 
had the pleasure to deliver, and the successful experi- 
ments I have, during the last two evenings, performed 
in your presence, have awakened opposition, and the 
excitement has tru.y become tremendous. Hundreds 
cannot gain admittance into this capacious chapel, and 
the breathless anxiety and stillness of this crowded 
congregation, show the deep and stirring interest which 
you feel in the science of Mesmerism, which is the sci- 
ence of mind and its godlike powers. For many ages 
men have turned their attention to matter, and confined 
all their investigations to the realms of material philoso- 
phy. It is true, that here and there a noble spirit has 
turned his attention to scan the nature and powers of 
the human mind itself. But she seemed to close her 
laboratory against their entrance, and forbid them to 
lay their hands upon her sacred shrine. In this condi- 
tion, there was no alternative but to judge of mind itself 
from its vast and complicated operations, both mental 
and moral. But that the mind itself could directly pro- 
duce a physical rsult by its own living energies, seems 
never to have entered their hearts. But new fields of 
thought are opened to the human soul, and the mysteri- 
ous and wonderful powers of the living mind are now 
seen and felt. Circumstances require me to say that I 
regard not the opposition or the scepticism of men. I 
challenge investigation both as to the experiments I per- 
form, or the arguments I )ffer. stand mailed with im- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 31 

mutable truth ; and hence, on this subject, am invulner- 
able to ever} attack. Truth is immutable, cannot bend 
to circumstances, and must stand independent of the 
belief or unbelief of men. It must soar on towering 

o 

wing far above the reach of scorn, ana sooner or later 
triumph over all opposition. 

I now come to speak of mind and its powers. I have 
clearly shown that the will raises the arm through the 
agency of electricity. Perhaps I should not call it 
electricity, but nervo-vital fluid, or galvanic fluid, 
manufactured from electricity taken in at the lungs. 
The will is not an attribute of the mind, but the result 
of all the attributes brought into council and action. 
It is the executive of the mind. The question now 
comes up in proper order before us : Is there any powei 
in mind to produce a result by simply willing it ? I con- 
tend that there is, while the opposers of Mesmerism con- 
tend that there is not. Mesmerism, then, must stand or 
fall on the existence or non-existence of such a power. & fV *^ 
And first, let me appeal to you as Christians. If you j 
deny that mind, or spirit, has any power to produce a | L: \ 
physical result, then how does the Creator govern the 
universe ? How can his Spirit come in contact with 
matter so as to produce any physical results ? The 
creation and government of the world are represented 
in scripture as the result of the divine will, " He doeth 
according to his will in the army of heaven, and among 
the inhabitants of earth." The creation of the world 
and all its appendages is represented as the effect of 
his will. " He said, let there be light, and there was 
light." " He spake, and it was done ; He commanded, 
and it stood fast." If, then, the infinite Spirit, by holding 
his will unchangeably upon all the multifarious objects 



32 LECTURES ON 

of creation, moves unnumbered worlds, and governs 
the universe, then there is also an energy and power in 
ihe human spirit proportionate to its greatness. It* you 
grant that the infinite Spirit, by putting forth an infinite 
\s 11, can produce infinite results, then surely a feeble 
finite spirit, by putting forth a feeble finite will, can. pro- 
duce a feeble finite result. I only ask you, as Christian 
philosophers, the admission that the same cause shall 
produce the same effect. 

If, however, you deny the correctness of this conclu- 
sion, then I have only to say, that you furnish the 
atheist with a weapon by which he is sure to defeat 
you. Argue as long as you please, and even drive the 
honest atheist from any other ground, he will at last 
say: "Well, admit there is a God, yet he can do nothing." 
Your Bible says, "God is a spirit." Hence, he has no 
hands, feet, nor physical body, as we have. He may 
therefore, will and will to all eternity ; yet he can da 
nothing, because spirit, by its mere mental action, can- 
not come in contact with, nor in the least affect matter 
We know this, says the atheist, from observation and 
experience. " And what can we reason but from what 
we know V A human being, for instance, may sit down 
and exercise all his mental energies. He may will 
and will to endless ages, yet he can do nothing — can- 
not produce the least physical result, unless he uses his 
hands or comes in bodily contact. I now ask those 
Christians who deny that the mind has such power as 
we are contending for, how can they answer this argu- 
ment of the atheist ? I contend that they are not able 
to meet it. There is no human ingenuity beneath these 
heavens that the Christian opposers of the mesmeric 
power, can summon to their aid adequate to the task. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 33 

Indeed, it implies a contradiction in terms, and involves 
them in the following compound dilemma: If the infi- 
nite Spirit, by the energies of his will, can produce 
infinite results, then a finite spirit, by its will, can pro- 
duce a finite result. But a finite spirit, by its will, can- 
not produce any result, so an infinite spirit, by its will, 
cannot produce any result ! Of this dilemma, they may 
take either horn. Now for the consistency of these 
sapient opposers. They admit that the infinite Spirit, 
by its will, governs the universe, and produces infinite 
effects, and yet deny that a finite spirit, by its will, can 
produce the least physical effect ; which is most philo- 
sophically absurd ! But, if a finite spirit, by its living 
energies, can produce a finite result, then there is a God, 
and the heavens do rule. I am willing to meet any in- 
telligent clergyman in controversy who denies the truth 
of Mesmerism ; and before this enlightened congrega- 
tion, who shall be our jurors, I will either make him 
acknowledge the mesmeric power, or drive him to 
atheism. I will leave him no other alternative. 

We have, thus far, confined our inquiries to the fact, 
whether there was any power at all in mind to produce 
results independent of bodily contact. I now take a still 
higher stand, and deny, in total, that there is any power 
or motion whatever, in the whole immeasurable uni- 
verse, except in mind. There can be no power without 
motion, nor can there be motion except it originate in 
mind. I care not through how many concatenations 
of cause and effect you may trace motion, it is after all 
but secondary, and must be traced back to mind as its 
starting point. For instance : suppose a ball should lie 
at rest upon this floor. It would never stir unless mo- 
tion were communi "ated to it by some^xtraneous power. 



84 LECTURES ON 

If another ball entered that door, and came in contact 
with the ball at rest, it would communicate motion^to it 
by impulse, losing just as much as it communicated 
But here is no beginning of motion, and every one would 
look around for the cause. If, while gazing, you should 
see another ball enter the door, struck by a bat, you 
might not yet be satisfied whether that bat was held in 
a man's hand, or whether it was fastened in some ma- 
chinery prepared, and put in motion by human ingenu- 
ity. But you see a third ball enter the door, and not 
only discover the bat but the hand that grasps it. You 
are now satisfied. You know that the hand is connected 
with a body, and that body with a brain and mind. 
Now, in these three instances, there is no beginning of 
motion. The man's hand, the bat, and first ball, are 
but the three instruments through which motion was 
communicated to the ball at rest, and the man's mind 
was sole mover. 

As the subject of Mesmerism is directly connected 
with the powers of mind, and as this is the pivot on 
which the question between its advocates and opposers 
must eventually turn, you will permit me to take a wider 
range in this extensive field. There must be some me- 
dium through which the eternal mind comes in contact 
with gross matter, moves unnumbered worlds accord- 
ing to nature's law, and sustains and governs the un- 
bounded universe. That medium must be the finest, 
the most rarified, and subtil of inert matter in being. It 
must be the last link in the material chain of inert sub- 
stances that fastens on the mind. This is electricity. 
Hence, it is through electricity that the Great Spirit 
comes in contact with his universe. This is evident, 
because it is electricity, as it exists ir the human sys- 



<< 






ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 35 

•fc&n, through which our spirits come in contact with 
matter. We are but an epitome of God's universe, and 
in us is contained every variety of matter and substance 
in being. " The proper study of mankind is man ;" and 
in this study, the most unbounded fields are opened to 
the range of human thought. 

It m?y now be asked, if electricity is that substance 
through which the Creator comes in contact with mat- 
ter, how then could he act when that splendid substance 
had no existence ? or, in other words, how could he 
create " all things out of nothing ?" I dony the asser- 
tion, that God created all things out of nothing, and .-y^e 
challenge the proof. Space and duration exist of neces- 
sity, and that space was eternally filled with primal 
matter, which I contend is electricity. The scriptures^ 
do not inform us that God created all things out of 
nothing, and surely philosophy cannot inform us how 
many nothings it will take to make the least conceiva- 
ble something ! Though it is the commonly received 
opinion that all things were created out of nothing, yet 
in all ages of the Christian church, there have been 
some eminent aien of all denominations, who have re- 
jected this idea, and contended that all things were cre- 
ated out of some substance. I have not time to refer 
to those persons this evening, yet permit me to name 
one. A more orthodox man than John Milton never 
lived, as all know who have ever read that astonishing 
production of the human intellect, his "Paradise Lost." 
He was at war with the idea that all things were ere- 
ated oat of nothing. I will present you with an extract 
from his " Treatise on Christian Doctrine," volume 1, 
pages 236 and 237. As I quote from memory, I may 
not be correct in every word. 



iU*) LECTURES ON 

lie says: u It : s clear, then, that the world was 
framed out of mutter of some kind or other. For, since 
action and passion are relative terms, and since, conse- 
quently, no agent can act externally, unless there be 
.some patient suck as matter, it appears impossible that 
God could have created this world out of nothing; not 
from any defect of power on his part, but because it 
was necessary that something should previously have 
existed capable of receiving passively the exertion of 
the divine efficacy. Since, therefore, both scripture 
and reason concur in pronouncing that all these things 
were made, not out of nothing, but out of matter, it 
necessarily follows that matter must always have ex- 
isted independent of God, or have originated from God 
at some particular point of time." 

So you perceive, Milton contends that both scripture 
and reason teach that all things were made out of mat- 
ter. I am under no obligations to prove that all things 
were not made out of nothing, for no man is bound by 
the rules of logic to prove a negative. But I will, for a 
moment, depart from this established rule of schoolmen, 
and undertake to prove that all things were not made 
out of nothing. To this end, I will call into my service 
the following argument : * 

We raise an axe, and at a single blow cut in two a 
piece of wood one inch in diameter. Now it is certain 
that this wood was not severed instantly in all its parts. 
If it were, then the lower part would have been cut at 
the same instant that the upper part was, which is per- 
fectly absurd, and therefore impossible. The axe 
certainly passed gradually through that wood, and pro- 
gressively separated one grain after another. This you 
ail perceive. By instantly, wc are to understand, 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 37 

that no time shall elapse between the accomplishment 
of any two objects. It may, however, be said, that 
there are bodies that move with greater velocity than 
this axe. I will, then, take another. There is nothing 
with which we are acquainted, that moves with greater 
velocity than light; its motion being about iwelve mil- 
lion miles in a minute. Hence, the passage of a ray of 
light from the sun to the earth, would be about eight 
minutes. It is, therefore, absurd to say that a ray of 
light could be at the sun and at the earth at the same 
instant, as it would allow no time for its passage. I 
will now apply the above argument to the subject be- 
fore us. 

If something were created out of nothing, it could 
not, in the nature of things, have been done progres- 
sively or gradually, because the instant it became the 
least possible remove from nothing it would be some- 
thing. It must, in the very nature of things, remain 
nothing till it becomes something, because there is no 
possible process by which it can be gradually brought 
forward into something, for there is no existing medium 
between something and nothing. Now, if nothing were 
created into something, it must have been done instantly; 
and if instantly, then it must have been something and 
nothing at the same instant, which is the climax of 
absurdity. It is just as absurd as to contend that the 
piece of wood before mentioned was severed at the 
bottom at the same time that it was at the top, or that 
a ray of light could be at the sun and the earth at the 
same instant. I shall hold this argument sound until 
some one is able to refute it. 

Hence, I contend for the eternal existence of primal 
matter, which is electricity. But even this primal mat- 
4 



38 LECTURE? ON 

ter does not exist independent of Deity. It is the natu- 
ral atmosphere or substance emanating from Him** It 
is evident that every substance in being has its atmos- 
pheric emanation, by which it may be detected before 
we arrive at the body. I say atmospheric emanation, 
because I know of no other more convenient term, by 
which I can express my ideas. For instance, the rose, 
and every species of the flower tribe, have their emana- 
tions, which like an atmosphere surround them, and by 
which we detect their existence before we come in con- 
tact with them. For the sake of perspicuity, suffer me 
to call it atmospheric emanation, which in the above 
cases is detected by smell. The same is true of every 
species of trees and plants in being. The same is true 
of every species of earth, and rock, and mineral, in exist- 
ence. Each substance has an atmospheric emanation 
peculiar to itself, and by which it can be discovered by 
man, or by some other living creature. The camel on 
the desert will detect water twenty miles distant. The 
same is true in relation to all the races and tribes of ani- 
mated beings. Each has its own peculiar atmospheric 
emanation, by which it may be detected by some other 
creature, by some instinctive sense of which we have 
little or no conception. As, then, every substance in 
being has its own peculiar emanation, so the atmospheric 
emanation of the self-existent Spirit, is electricity, which, 
proceeding forth from Him, does not therefore exist in 
dependent of him. 

It will now be said that, on this principle of reasoning, 
the speaker will make it out that spirit itself is matter. 
If by spirit you mean that which has neither length, 
breadth, nor thickness, nor occupies any space, then I 
have only to say that it is a mere chimera of the human 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 59 

brain, a nonentity, a nothing ! Does Deity fill all space ? 
Then he is of course a substance, a real, living, acting 
and thinking being ; otherwise, as Christians, we use 
.words without knowledge, when we say that he fills im- 
mensity with his presence. But it may be said that 
mind is thought, reason, and uneerstanding, and then 
be asked, whether thought, reason, understanding, etc., 
occupy any space ? But I deny that these are mind. 
Thought, reason, and understanding are not mind, but 
the effects of mind. Mind is something supremely 
higher than all these. I yet ask what is that which 
thinks, reasons, and understands ? It is the mind. Then 
mind is something distinct from those effects by which 
it is made manifest. What, then, it may be asked, is 
mind? I answ T er, it is that substance which has innate 
or living motion ; and the result of that motion is 
thought, reason, understanding, and, therefore, power. 
As electricity is the highest and most subtil of inert 
substances, as it fastens on mind, and is, therefore, more 
easily moved than any other inert substance in being, so 
mind is the next step above electricity, is the crowning 
perfection of all other substances in immensity — is liv- 
ing motion ; and the result of that motion is thought and\ 
power. It is the living Spirit from whom emanates 
electricity, and who, out of that electricity, has created 
all worlds. Hence, the Creator is a real substance or 1 
being, possessing personal identity, and is infinite in 
every perfection of his adorable character. 

Electricity, which is an atmospheric emanation from 
God, and which is moved by his will, is that substance 
out of which all worlds and their splendid appendages 
were made. Hence, it will be perceived, that electricity 
contains all the original properties of all the various 






40 LECTURES ON 

substances in being. All the varieties of the universe 
around us — all the beauties and glories of creationnpon 
which avc look with so many thrilling emotions of de- 
light, were produced from electricity, which is the inex- 
haustible fountain of primal matter. By the living ener- 
gies oi the Divine Mind, electricity was condensed into 
globes ; not instantly, but gradually. The heaviest par- 
ticles took the lowest point, or common centre, of our 
globe, and so on, step by step, lighter and lighter, till we 
reach the surface, which is a vegetable mould. On this 
we find water, a substance still lighter than earth ; next 
air, which is lighter than water, and so on till we reach 
the sun, which is the highest point in relation to our sys- 
tem, because it is the common centre. The sun is, 
therefore, pure electricity. Hence, the tw r enty-nine 
globes, belonging to our system, are electrically, geolo- 
■ gically, and magnetically ma3e. They are but twenty- 
nine magnets revolving around our sun as a common 
centre. 

The sun, being pure electricity or primal matter, is 
but an emanation from the Deity. It is, consequently, 
in a positive state. Hence, electricity is continually 
passing from the sun, as a common centre, to the twen- 
ty-nine surrounding worlds ; on the same principle that 
it passes from a positive to a negative cloud. Having 
done its duty in giving light, heat, and vegetation, as 
well as magnetic power to globes, it is returned by re- 
action to the sun, and these two motions form the vor- 
tices that roll worlds around him. It is impossible that 
there can be any inherent attraction and repulsion in 
matter. Attraction and repulsion are but different dis- 
positions of electricity. The best magnets are now 
made from the galvanic battery. Hence, electricity, 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 41 

galvanism, and magnetism are but in substance one and 
the same fluid, and as this is primal matter, an emana- 
tion from the Eternal Mind, so all the powers of attrac- 
tion and repulsion originate in Deity. His will comes 
in contact with electricity, and through that subtil agent 
he moves the whole immeasurable universe in accor- 
dance with nature's law. All worlds are in motion. 
They roll rapid as the lightning's blaze, and in the most 
apparent confusion ; yet all is calm, regular, and harmo- 
nious. God is, therefore, connected with his universe, 
and superintends all its multifarious operations. Though 
he is thus intimately united to inert matter, yet he is dis 
tinct from the whole. 

" Thou apart, 
Above, beyond; O tell me, mighty Mind, 
Where art thoul Shall I dive into the deep 1 
Call to the sun? or ask the roaring winds 
For their Creator ? Shall I question loud 
The thunder, if in that the Almighty dwells ? 
Or holds he furious storms in straitened reins, 
And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car? 

The nameless He ! whose nod is nature's birth ; 
And nature's shield the shadow of his hand ; 
Her dissolution his suspended smile! 
The great First Last! pavilioned high he sits 
In darkness, from excessive splendor borne, 
By gods unseen, unless through lustre lost. 
His glory, to created glory, bright, 
As that to central horrors ; he looks down 
On all that soars, and spans immensity." 

Worlds are not only electrically, geologicallj iuA 
magnetically made, but they are electrically and mag- 
netically suspended and moved by the immediate ener- 
gies of the Divine Mind. Here is an image in paper 
costume. I will attach it to this electrizing machine and 
charge it. See! those papers are now all suspended, 
and being equally charged .they repel each other. I 
4* 



42 LECTURES DX 

will now put my fingers near them. Soe ! how they 
are attracted by my hand. They touch me, givje off 
their electricity, become equalized with my fingers, and 
then fall. Here, then, is suspension, attraction, and re- 
pulsion, by electricity. It may, however, be said, that 
it' worlds arc moved by electricity, that they must ne- 
cessarily move as quick as lightning. This does not 
follow. Here is an orrery, with which the most of you 
are acquainted. I attach it to the electrical machine, 
and charge. You see it is moved by giving off electri- 
city at its points. But though electrically moved, yet it 
does not move as quick as lightning. The magnet I 
hold in my hand w 7 as charged from the galvanic battery, 
and by one single stroke of the battery from the prongs 
of this magnet towards the bow, I can destroy all its 
magnetic pow r ers, and by reversing the action, I can just 
as suddenly restore them. 

I have now clearly shown that all motion and power 
originate in mind, and as the human spirit, through an 
electro-magnetic medium, comes in contact with matter, 
so the infinite Spirit does the same, and through this 
medium he governs the universe. Hence, those who 
deny the mesmeric power, must, to be consistent with 
themselves, deny that there is any medium through 
which mind can come in contact with matter, or else 
deny that mind, abstractly considered, has any powder 
to produce results. But the denial of either of these is 
a denial of an all-powerful, self-existent Spirit, the-JC^e- 
ator and Governor of the universe. But, on the other 
hand, how sublime the idea, that God is electrically and 
magnetically connected with his universe ; that, by the 
energies of his own will, he has condensed and formed 
worlds from electricity, which is but the atmospheric 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 43 

emanation of his own spirit, and that by electricity he 
sustains, rolls, and governs them from age to age. And 
how sublime the idea, that he has " poured spirit from 
spirit's awful fountain, and kindled into existence a 
world of rationals." He has poured himself through all 
his works, and stamped upon them beauty, order, and 
harmony, which are but the reflected impressions of his 

OWn SPLENDOR. 



4-1 LECTURES UN 



LECTURE IV. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : It is a source of gratifica- 
tion to me that public attention, in Boston and vicinity 
is completely awakened to the interests of Spiritualism, 
and that they are giving this subject that investigation 
which its importance demands. We live emphatically 
in an age of investigation and improvement, when light 
seems to be pouring in oceans on our world ; and he who 
shuts his eyes, and then scoffs and sneers because others 
open theirs and see, is not only recreant to duty, but does 
society an irreparable wrong. But those who remain in 
scepticism much longer on the subject of Mesmerism, 
will be suspected either of ignorance or dishonesty. I 
make this remark, because there is no possible apology 
that any man of common sense should remain in scepti- 
cism another day. He can go home and try it upon his 
children or friends, and test its power, and know its 
truth, and this every man is bound to do who desires to 
mitigate human pain, and assuage human woes. The 
subject is one of paramount consideration, and is wor- 
thy of your best affections, your most ardent zeal, and 
your warmest hopes. 

In my last lecture, I took into consideration mind and 
its powers, and the medium through which it comes in 
contact with matter. This medium is electricity, and is 
that eternal, primal matter out of which all other sub- 
stances were made It fills immensity of space ; and 



ANIMAL MAGAETISM. 45 

worlds are successively and continually formed by the 
condensation of electricity under the living and ever-act- 
ing energies of the Eternal Mind. We are floating in 
an immensity of space that knows no bounds, like the 
mote in the sunbeam. This is peopled with swarming 
worlds, in number beyond an angel's computation ; and 
the residue, which has not yet become the abodes of life, 
order, and beauty, is filled up with primal matter still in 
its electrical state. HencQ, the work of creation has 
been going on from eternity, and will continue to pro- 
gress so long as the throne of the self-existent Jehovah 
endures, without ever arriving at an end in the sublime 
career of creation. New brother creations are, there- 
fore, every moment rolling from his omnific hand, and 
that creating fiat will never, never cease. All this is 
effected by the energies of mind. 

In my last lecture, I stated, and, as I thought, conclu- 
sively proved, that thought, reason, understanding, etc., 
were not mind, but merely the results of mind, and gave 
what I considered conclusive evidence. I, moreover, 
stated that mind was a substance that occupied space, 
that it possessed living motion, and that the result of 
that motion was thought, reason, and power, and gave 
what I considered proof. But it seems that both of 
these positions have been disputed, and hence I will 
once more touch these two points. 

If thought, reason, and understanding are mind, then 
our minds are annihilated every night in sleep. Be- 
cause, if all the organs of the brain are wrapped in 
profound slumber, then there is not a single thought 
stirring in the whole intellectual realm. It will not an- 
swer to parry the force of this argument, by saying that 
the action of blood upon the brain produces thought, 



46 LECTURES ON 

and that tiiis action is suspended m slumber, because 
the blood flows and acts upon the brain in sleep as well 
as when we arc awake; and hence we should, on this 
principle, think and reason when asleep nearly as well 
as when awake. This, however, is not the case. If, 
then, thought and reason are mind. I must insist that, in 
profound slumber, the mind is annihilated, for thought 
is gone. Hence it is plain, that thought, reason, and 
understanding are not mind, but the effects of mind. 

I will now take a different argument from the one 
offered in my last lecture, to prove that mind is a sub- 
stance that has innate motion, and that this motion 
produces thought. It is admitted on all hands, that the 
mind resides in the brain, not in the blood-vessels, but 
in the nerves themselves. Now, if the nerves are very 
much expanded by heat, it is impossible to sleep. By 
lying perfectly still upon our beds, there is a coolness 
steals over the brain. The nerves, by coolness, are 
made to contract. They continue gently to shrink until 
they press upon the living substance that they contain, 
and stop its motion. That moment all thought ceases. 
Recollect, mind is that substance whose nature is motion, 
and the result of that motion is thought. By pressure, 
by force, it is stopped, and thought is gone. The mo- 
ment our rest is complete, a nervous warmth comes 
over the brain. The nerves expand, leave the mind 
disengaged, it resumes its motion, and thought is the 
result. As cold shrinks, and heat expands the nervous 
system, so that we alternately sleep and wake under 
this double action, so the mind is a living, self-moving, 
and invisible substance, which is capable of being com- 
pressed sufficient^ at least, to prevent its motion. 

Having made -hese remarks, which the circumstances 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 47 

ti the occasion seemed to require at my hands, I now 
invite your attention to what is called hy sceptics the in- 
comprehensibility and marvellousness of magnetic sleep ; 
and who, on this account, openly avow the impossibility 
and inconsistency of any one being thrown into such a 
state ; and who, whenever they witness experiments 10 
test it, freely use the stereotyped words, " humbug and 
eoLLusion," and that, too, with great emphasis, without 
being able, however, to detect this great, this wonderful 
imposition on public credulity ! 

The greatest objection to the truth of the science 
of Mesmerism arises from the circumstance, that the sub- 
ject can see in a manner different from the ordinary 
mode of vision. That any person can see out of the 
templar region, or out of the top, or back part of the 
skull, and through solid walls, and in the darkest night 
they contend is too preposterous to be believed. I deeply 
regret to say that medical men not only give counte- 
nance to such declarations made by the common mass, 
but are engaged in making the same themselves. But I 
seyiously appeal to them whether they have never seen 
any patients in a certain state of the nervous system, in- 
duced by disease, where they could thus see, and when 
sensation was so perfectly extinct that amputation might 
have taken place without pain? Have they never seen a 
case of catalepsy ? If not, have they never seen in med- 
ical works well-authenticated cases of this disease report- 
ed ? Surely they will not deny these things. I further in- 
quire, have they never seen a case nor heard one reported, 
where patients in a state of catalepsy have been entirely 
clairvoyant? where they have seen, as no person in the 
ordinary way of vision can see ? I am conscious that 
*hey will not hazard their medica reputation by giving 



•IS I.I., hk!-:s ON 

those interrogatories an unqualified denial. Oi" all per- 
sons beneath these heavens, medical gentlemen should be 
the last to sneer at the idea of clairvoyance, or even to- 
tal insensibility of a person in the magnetic state. 

Catalepsy is a sudden suppression of motion and sen- 
ii ; a kind of apoplex/, in which the patient is in a 
fixed posture. If the case be an aggravated one, the pa- 
tient is sometimes senseless and even speechless. To 
bring this subject directly and plainly before you, I will 
relate to you an incident which was stated to me about 
six months ago by Dr. Patterson, an eminent physician 
of Lynchburg, Virginia. A young lady was taken sick. 
Her physician, who lived some eight or ten miles distant, 
was sent for. He found her in a state of catalepsy. 
Though there was no sensation in her body, yet she had 
occasional fits of talking. He prescribed, stated that he 
should be there the next evening, and left. The evening 
came, and a most tremendous storm of rain, with high 
winds, set in. The darkness was profoun 1. As the fam- 
ily were sealed in silence and anxiety in the same room 
where the patient lay, some one said, " Well, our doctor 
will not be here to-night." The sick lady answered : 
<; Yes he will ; he is coming now ; he is riding on horse- 
back, and is all drenched with rain." the family suppos- 
ing this to be a mere reverie of the brain, a touch of de- 
lirium, made no reply. Nearly an hour passed on ; and 
the storm continuing with unabating violence, one of the 
pensive group again broke the silence, and exclaimed 
with a feeling of regret, "Well, it is certain our doctor 
will not be here this dark stormy night !" The sufferer 
again answered, "Yes he will; he is most here now ; 
there he is hitching his horse ; he is coming to the door." 
They heard the raps ; the door was opened, and in came 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. .' 49 

the doctor I nuvv ask, how did this lady in a state cf cat- 
alepsy see the physician several miles distant, through 
the walls of her house, and in so dark a night? 

This report was given in a medical journal and well 
authenticated. And moreover, there are many of a sim- 
ilar character ; and of these facts medical men are well 
aware. Now I appeal to them, who are present on this 
occasion, that if it is possible to throw the nervous system 
into a condition by disease, so that the patient can see in 
a manner entirely distinct from the ordinary mode of vis- 
ion, then, how can they, without presumption, affirm 
that a person cannot be thrown into a similar state by 
Mesmerism ? It is proved by medical works that such a 
state of the brain is possible; and who will take upon 
himself to affirm, that it can be induced by no other 
means than disease ? As a state of catalepsy is thus fre- 
quently attended with clairvoyance, and with total insen- 
sibility, so that amputation could be performed without 
pain, then why should we marvel when we see the same 
identical phenomena clustering around Mesmerism ? I 
have only to say that our surprise is wholly gratuitous. 

I appeal to medical gentlemen present. Have you 
never seen a case of natural somnambulism ? There 
are hundreds of them occur in this city ; and, in every 
town there are those who rise in their sleep, perform 
labors, and return to their beds without knowing it. In 
this state they have gone to the top of house-frames, 
walked on the ridgepoles, and safely descended. They 
have, in the darkest nights, walked over dangerous and 
rapid streams on a mere scantling in safety, where a 
slight loss of balance would have been death, and 
where it would be impossible for them to have crossed 
in their wakeful state Women have arisen, and in 
5 



50 LECTURER ON 

this state have done the nicest needle-work. And how 
did these see I Surely not with the natural organ of 
vision. A young lady at boarding-school, learning to 
paint miniatures, and on preparing one for examination- 
day, found that she could be excelled by the other 
pupils. It worried her much, and to her suprise she 
found in the morning, that her picture had greatly ad- 
vanced under the delicate touch of some experienced 
hand. She charged the deed upon her teacher, who 
disclaimed all knowledge of the fact. But on the next 
morning the picture was nearly finished, but the trans- 
gressor could not be found. The Preceptress being 
strongly suspected, secretly sat up and watched. In 
the dead of night, when all was still, the young lady 
arose, and in a dark room arranged her work, mixed her 
colors, and began to paint. Her Preceptress lit a lamp, 
entered the room, and saw that lady finish her picture. 
She then awakened her. How did she see how to mix 
her colors, and to give the nicest touch with her pencil 
where no human eye in the wakeful state could discern 
an object ? Such facts as these, and even more won- 
derful, are well known to medical gentlemen. Now, ii 
persons can by some cause be thrown into somnambu- 
lism upon their beds, then reason teaches that they may 
be thrown into the same state and even a much deeper 
sleep by the magnetic power. 

We will now take into consideration the philosophy 
of Clairvoyance. It is evident that seeing, hearing, 
feeling, tasting, and smelling, belong exclusively to 
the mind. And as we have already clearly proved that 
electricity is the only substance that can come in con- 
tact with mind, so it is through the agency of this fluid 
that sensations are transmitted to the mind. Hence, it 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 51 

is through the medium of electricity that we see, hear, 
feel, taste, and smell. 

The power of sight being in the mind, it is evident 
that we never saw anything out of our eyes. The whole 
of this congregation, with all their different costumes, 
their various complexions and different appearances, and 
all their relative distances from each other, are struck 
upon the retina of the speaker's eye, on about the bigness 
of a quarter of an inch. By the agency of electricity, 
it is conveyed through the optic nerve to the mind 
where it is seen. Hence, we never saw a piece of mat- 
ter, but only its shadow, the same - as when you look in- 
to a mirror, it is not yourself, but your image that you 
see. Electricity is that substance that passes through 
all other substances. Air cannot pass through your 
cranium, nor through these walls, nor metallic substan- 
ces. But as all these have countless millions of pores, 
electricity can pass through them. Now if our nervous 
system could be charged with the nervo-vital fluid, so 
as to render the brain positive, and thus bring it into an 
exact equilibrium or balance with external electricity, 
then we should be clairvoyant. Because the nervous 
system being duly charged, and even surcharged, the 
great quantity of this fluid passing in right lines from 
the mind, as a common centre, and in every direction 
through the pores of the skull, renders it transparent. 
Uniting with external electricity which passes through 
these walls and all substances, which are also trans- 
parent, the image of the whole universe, as it were, in 
this transparent form, is thrown upon the mind, and is 
there seen, and seen, too, independent of the retina. On 
this principle, the whole of those objects which are 
opaque to natural vision, are rendered transparent to 



52 : ECTURES ON 

the clairvoyant, and lie sees through wa.js in succes- 
sion, ami takes cognizance of their relative distances, on 
the same principle that we in a wakeful state could look 
through said walls if they were thin, transparent glass. 
On this principle, if the subject, be charged too much or 
too little, he cannot see clearly. Or if the night be 
rainy, or even damp, and unfavorable to electricity, then 
experiments in clairvoyance must fail, or be very im- 
perfect. The subject must be magnetically charged 
exactly to that degree which will bring him into mag- 
netic equilibrium with external electricity. Then, if the 
night be favorable, the experiments will most likely 
prove successful. 

For the sake of perspicuity, I will take another posi- 
tion. Why can you see through that window ? You 
answer, because the glass is transparent. But why is it 
transparent ? You again answer, because upon every 
square inch of its surface there are several thousand 
pores, and the glass is of that chemical property that it 
will admit the rays of atmospheric light to pass through 
them. This is philosophically correct. But remember, 
it is not the window that sees, but it is the inhabitant 
in the house that looks out of the window. The ques- 
tion now arises, why can you not see through that wall ? 
If you answer, because it is opaque, yet the query arises, 
why is it opaque ? The wall has certainly as many 
pores upon the square inch as that glass. The answer 
: s, because the wall is of that chemical property that 
resists the rays of atmospheric light ; and where no light 
passes through the pores of a substance, that substance 
must be opaque. This is so far philosophically correct. 

We are now ready to ask, why can you see through 
the eye ? Because it h formed on the transparent prin- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 53 

ciple, has a certain number of pores upon the square 
inch, and, by the skill of the Creator, it is so constituted 
as to chemically receive the rays of atmospheric light. 
But you will please to bear in mind that it is not those 
translucent orbs that see, but it is the inhabitant in the 
earthly house that looks out of those windows of the 
soul. Even the good book says, when speaking of the 
faded vision of the aged, — " and those that look out 

OF THE WINDOWS SHALL BE DARKENED" thus Calling 

these eyes but the windows of the soul. It is the spirit 
only that sees — that alone possesses the inward living 
eye ; for take the spirit from its earthly house, and what 
can these eyes — these windows of the fleshly tabernacle 
— see ? They can see just as much as the hands or 
feet, but no more. Let another question be here pro- 
posed. Why can you not see through the skull ? You 
will again answer — because it is opaque. But I again 
ask, why is it opaque ? You reply — because it chemi- 
cally resists the rays of atmospheric light, and will not 
allow them to pass through its pores, even though they 
are as numerous as the pores of the eye. This answer 
is also philosophically correct ; and in this wonderful 
constitution of the human cranium is made manifest the 
wisdom of the Creator. For were light admitted through 
it upon every portion of the brain, it would stimulate its 
organs to such an unnatural degree as to render the 
mind incapable of manifesting itself through them in a 
harmonious and rational manner. Indeed, it would be 
inconsistent with the continuance of life itself. 

As the remarks now made are perfectly simple, and 
can be comprehended by all, I will now ask — if there 
w T ere a light so much finer than atmospheric light, and 
of that peculiar property that it could be made to pass 



54 LECTURES ON 

through all substances in existence, could you not then - 
see through that wall as easily as through that glass? 
Certainly ; because the wall would be rendered trans- 
parent through the action of that light, and wherever 
light passes, there must exist the possibility to see ob- 
jects. The question then naturally presents itself to the 
mind — is there such a light ? I answer — there is, and 

it is MAGNETIC, 01' GALVANIC LIGHT. It exists 110t Only 

around, but within us. Go into a dungeon of total dark- 
ness, and strike your head a sudden blow, and you will 
see a flash of light. From whence comes that light 1 
It is within you : it is the nervous fluid — the living light 
of the brain, which is of a galvanic nature. By this 
concussion it was thrown into confusion, forced from its 
accustomed channels, and laid suddenly at the footstool 
of the living mind ; and the mind saw the flash. Hence, 
it is electrically that we see, and hear, and feel, and 
taste, and smell. All mesmeric subjects cannot, how- 
ever, see with the same brilliancy in clairvoyance, when 
the brain is surcharged with this li^ht. The most dis- 
tinguished clairvoyants now in the United States, are 
Jackson Davis, Lucius E. Burkmar, and Walter S. Tar- 
box, who have astonished thousands ; and by their ex- 
aminations of the diseased, and saving the lives of many, 
have rendered themselves the benefactors of suffering 
humanity This galvanic light can be conveyed to the 
brain independent of the natural eye — the outward 
organ of vision. 

That the above principles are correct, and that taste, 
seeing, etc., are electrically conveyed to the mind, try 
the following experiments. Take a half dollar, and a 
piece of zinc of the same size : touch them separately to 
the tongue, and you will not perceive any taste ; but 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 55 

put the tongue between them, and, in this position, touch 
the edges of the two pieces together over the end of the 
tongue, and you will taste a pungent acid. This taste 
is produced electrically. Zinc contains a greater por- 
tion of electricity than the silver, and when they come 
\n contact it gives it off to the silver, and conveys the 
sensation of taste through the glands to the mind. In 
further proof of this being electricity, put the half dol- 
lar against the gums under the upper lip ; open the 
mouth, and lay the zinc upon the tongue . by moving 
the tongue up and down, you will touch the pieces to- 
gether, and every time they come in contact you will 
not only perceive the same taste before described, but 
you will see a flash of lightning. Now that this light- 
ning is seen directly by the mind, and independent of 
the natural organ of the eye, you may enter a dark 
room, and in the darkest night — close your eyes, and 
even bandage them, — and yet when you touch those 
pieces, as described, you will see the flash, even when 
one from the heavens could not be seen. This flash is 
conveyed through the nervous system directly to the 
mind, where alone exists the power of vision. This is 
not only proof that taste and sight are electrically con- 
veyed to the mind, but also that electricity is that sub- 
stance which alone comes in contact with mind. 

It is the same in relation to the other senses. Even 
hearing is not produced by the concussion of the par- 
ticles of our air, but by the vibration of the particles of 
electricity conveyed to the mind, and in that tremulous 
manner through the organ of the ear coming in direct 
contact with mind. It is impossible, in the nature of 
things, that so gross a substance as air can pass the 
barriers of the ear and enter the brain to produce any 



5(3 LECTURES ON 

sound. But it may be said, that though the particles of- 
air do not enter the brain, yet with a vibrating motion 
they strike the drum of the ear and convey spund to the 
mind. This cannot be, because there is no air in the 
brain itself; and hence, there is no internal aerial me- 
dium through which souna sould be transmitted to the 
mind, even if we admit that the concussion of the par- 
tides of external air conveyed it to the drum. I yet ask, 
what is the internal medium beyond, through which that 
sound is conveyed to the mind ? There is no air there ; 
and if it be a vacuum, then no sound whatever can be 
conveved. The truth is, that the same substance in 
tremulous motion, which conveys sound to the drum of 
the ear, also passes through it into the nervous system, 
and conveys its oracle to the very throne of the living 
mind. This is electricity, which is the only correspond- 
ent or mediator between mind and matter, laying its 
brilliant hand upon both parties, and bringing them into 
communication. 

The sense of smell exists in the mind, and from sur- 
rounding substances the sensation is electrically con- 
veyed to it. But as smell is so nearly related to taste, 
the same argument may be applied to both. I will 
therefore proceed to notice the sense of feeling. 

It is generally said that the sense of feeling is in the 
nerves. But I contend that it belongs exclusively to 
the mind, the nerves being the mere medium through 
which it is electrically conveyed to the mind. Indeed, 
all our sensations, w T hether of seeing, hearing, feeling, 
tasting, or smelling, are conveyed to the mind, through 
the nervous system, from their correspondent organs, 
which are but the mere starting points, or inlets of sen- 
sation. And as the nervo-vita' fluid, which is of an 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 57 

electric nature, is the only substance that acts through 
the nerves, so electricity is the agent which conveys fill. 
our sensations to the mind. Though it is said that feel- 
ing is diffused over the whole system, yet, strictly 
speaking, this is not true. All feeling is in the mind. 
It is evident that the mind resides in the brain. It is 
not diffused over the whole nervous system, for when 
we might be as sensible that thought proceeded from 
the hand or foot, as from the head. In this case, the 
loss of a hand or foot would be the loss of some portion 
of our minds. The spinal marrow is but a continuation 
of the brain. Branches shoot out, and from these, oth- 
er branches in infinite variety, until they are spread out 
over the w 7 hole system ten thousand times finer than the 
fin st hair-sieve,— -so fine that you cannot put down the 
point of a cambric needle without feeling it, and you 
cannot feel unless you touch a nerve. Hence you per- 
ceive how very fine the nervous system must be ! Of 
this system, the brain is the fountain, and is the local 
habitation of the mind. 

Now touch the finger to any object, and that touch 
produces a corresponding action upon the brain, and 
through the agency of the electro-magnetic fluid, that 
sensation is conveyed to the mind. It is the mind that 
feels it, and by habit we associate the feeling with the 
end of the finger. But amputate the arm, and then 
touch the correspondent nerve at the end of the stump 
and he will yet associate the feeling with the end of the 
finger. But the feeling is not even in the end of the 
stump., It is in the mind which has its residence in the 
brain. 

I knew a U&.ksmith who had his leg amputated 
above the knee When healed, he put on a wooden leg 



LECTURES 01V 

and resumed his labors in the shop. He could feel liis 
leg and toes as usual, and many times in a day, he 
would, without reflection, put down his hand to scratch 
his wooden leg. Being unlearned and superstitious, he 
supposed that his leg w T as buried in an uncomfortable 
position, and therefore, haunted its wooden substitute. 
He dug it up, placed under it a soft cotton bed, and re- 
buried it ; but all to no purpose. He made the circum- 
stance known to his physician, who told him to find the 
corresponding nerve on the stump, and he could cause 
the itching sensation to cease. He did so, and the diffi- 
culties were at once overcome. 

A gentleman called upon me, in October, 1842, at the 
house of the Hon. T. J. Greenwood, in Marlboro'. He 
stated, that he injured his arm, the cords contracted 
and drew up his fingers, so as perfectly to clench the 
hand. It gave him great pain, and the arm was ampu- 
tated just above the elbow. And though three years 
had passed aw r ay, he said there w T as yet a constant pain 
as though the fingers were drawn up ; and from that 
contraction the pain seemed to proceed. Now the 
whole of this difficulty was felt in the brain. If I may 
be allow r ed the expression, the brain has its legs and 
arms, and toes, and fingers. Or allow me to go entire- 
ly back. It is the mind which has its limbs and all its 
lineaments of form, and from which all form, proportion, 
and beauty emanate. 

I observed a moment ago, that the spinal cord was 
but the brain continued. Now let a knife be inserted 
between the joints of the spine, and let this cord be sev- 
ered, and all the parts of the body, below the incision, 
will be paralyzed. You may now cut or burn the legs, 
but all feeling is gone ; neither can they be moved by the 



animal magnetism. 59 

will. The will cannot come in contact with flesh and 
blood, only through the electro-magnetic fluid. The 
mind is in the brain, and as the spinal marrow is severed, 
so the lower parts are separated from the fountain of feel- 
ing. The communication of the electrical influence is 
destroyed between the extremities and the mind, and 
hence, the extremities can convey sensations to the mind 
no more. 

I might continue the argument to an indefinite extent 
to prove that all our senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, tast- 
ing, and smelling) are in the mind, and that these sensa- 
tions, through their corresponding organs, are electrical 
ly conveyed to the mind, through the nervous system, but 
I forbear, aud proceed, as usual, to the anticipated exper- 
iments of the evening. 



60 LECTURES OM 



LECTURE V. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : We are again assembled to 
take into consideration the subject of Mesmerism. Its 
growing interest in the public mind is manifest, by the 
increasing throngs that assemble in this chapel, to inves- 
tigate its claims to truth and science, and the multitudes 
that are obliged to retire, unable to gain admittance. 
As several notes, since my entrance into this house, 
have been handed me, I shall be obliged to omit intro- 
ductory remarks, and attend to two or three important 
requests. 

An inquiry is made as to the number of degrees or 
states into which a subject may be thrown. In reply to 
this, I would say, that there are but five degrees which 
have, as yet, come under my observation. The first 
degree is, when the hands or even the whole body of the 
subject can be attracted by the conjoint action of the 
mental and physical energies of the magnetizer. The 
second degree is, when the hands, or body of the subject, 
can be attracted by the mental energies alone, or by the 
physical energies independent of any mental effort. The 
third degree is, when the subject can neither hear nor 
answer any person but the magnetizer and those who 
are in communication. The fourth degree is, when the 
subject can taste what the magnetizer tastes, and smell 
what he smells. The fifth degree is clairvoyance. I 
would not be understood that these five degrees always 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 61 

occur in the order I have now stated them ; but I mean 
that there are these five different degrees. Some never 
seem to go further than the third degree, and no surgical 
operation should be performed, unless the subject be put 
completely into this third state, so that no voice but the 
magnetizer's can be heard. It can then be performed 
without any pain. 

Another inquiry is made, whether any person can put 
himself into communication with the subject without the 
magnetizer's consent ? I answer, yes. Any person may 
put himself into communication by ardently fixing his 
attention upon the subject while another is magnetizing 
him, especially if he sits near him. Or he may do it 
by touching, or too freely handling him. He may do 
it by violently throwing his hands towards him, and 
within a foot of his body. Or, lastly, he may take two 
or three electric shocks from a charged Leyden jar, 
within eight or ten feet of the subject, being careful to 
fix his eyes firmly upon him while taking the shock. 
The second or third shock, the subject will start with 
him who receives it — and when he starts he is in com- 
munication. 

A third inquiry is made, whether any one but the 
magnetizer can awaken the subject ? Certainly, any per- 
son who is put in communication with him can take him 
put of the state. Or by a firm determination, he can 
awaken himself. In fact, he may be put in bed, and in 
a few hours, say from eight to fourteen, he will come 
out of it the natural way. 

A fourth, and last inquiry is made, if magnetism be 
true, why has not more oft been seen, at least in some 
small degree, in different ages ? I answer, that its his- 
tory dates back to a very early age which I cannot now 
6 



LECTURES ON 



pursue, but would refer to "Fascination, or the Philos- 
ophy of Charming, illustrating the principles of Hfe in 
connection with spirit and matter," published in New 
York city by Fowlers & Wells ; also to the American 
Phrenological Journal. They are conducted with 
great ability, and should be in possession of every family. 
But the inquirer asks, "why has not more of it been 
seen, at least in some small degree, in different ages ?" 
I answer, it has been seen and felt. Have you never 
read the bold, lofty, and full-gushing eloquence of De- 
mosthenes, whose thunders roused Greece into action, 
and moved her sons as the wind in its rushing majesty 
moves the sublime magnificence often thousand forests ? 
This was but the magnetic principle, the lightning of 
the mind, by which they were electrified, and made to 
act as one man against the powers of Philip. The same 
?s true of Cicero, who shook the Roman senate with his 
voice, and beneath the electric glance of whose awful 
eye, even Cataline quailed. I am well aware that you 
will call this sympathy. But what is sympathy? It is 
the nervo-vital fluid thrown from a full, energetic brain, 
upon another of kindred feeling. That brain being 
roused affects another, and that still another, till the whole 
assembly are brought into magnetic sympathy with the 
speaker, and by him are moved as the soul of one man. 
As a further answer to this question, I wiil notice one 
fact more ; and in doing this, I shall remove what has , 
long been considered as a stigma on a large and respect- 
able denomination. I mean the Methodists. Ever since 
that class of Christians had a religious existence in the 
United States, persons have fallen down into a species 
of trance. Other denominations call this delusion, and 
many call it deception, because such things never occur 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. G3 

in their meetings. But there is no deception in this — it 
is really the magnetic state — or more properly the spi- 
ritual state. Every preacher cannot do it, and as it is 
done without contact, comparatively few are subjects 
of it- 

But take a preacher of strong muscular powers ; one 
who has large concentrativeness, and eye of lightning, 
and a warm, a sincere, and ardent soul. He enters a 
tent at camp-meeting, where there are fifteen or twenty 
persons. He kneels down and prays most fervently ; 
he rises and sings most devotionally. He is in close 
contact with his little group. He begins to exhort most 
sincerely ; and soon the deep fountains of his soul are 
broken up. A female, perchance, is moved to tears. 
His concentration being large, he keeps his eye steadily 
fixed upon her, and he wills and desires, that she shall 
feel as he feels, and be converted to God. At length 
she falls into this singular state. She has gone there in 
the preacher's feelings, and in his feelings she will come 
out of it. Now, if he would f jIIow my directions, he 
could restore her in two minutes. I will pledge myself 
to arouse any one from this magnetic state in five 
minutes. Dr. Cannon, of this city, took a lady out of 
this state a few weeks ago, in Provincetown, who was 
thrown into it in a religious meeting, and who appeared 
nearly lifeless. A report of this was published in the 
" Christian Freeman." Now all these are really mag- 
netic effects that we have seen, and for many years in 
succession. So the inquiries are all answered, and I 
hope, to the satisfaction of the inquirers and the congre- 
gation. 

I must now proceed to notice the dangers and abuses 
of Mesmerism. It is often said by its opposers, that 



t>i LECTURES ON 

even if it be true, yet it is dangerous, because it can be- 
abused, and therefore ought nut to be practised? But 
i o you know of any blessing beneath these heavens but 
wh .1 has been, and still continues to be abused'/ No, 
you do not Do you know of a more common blessing 
than taste I yet to gratify their taste, millions on millions 
have gone down to a drunkard's tomb ! Mothers have 
been more than widowed, and children more than or- 
phanized. They have been beaten and abused, and 
suffered cold, and hunger, and nakedness. Under it, 
crimes have been committed, and the state prisons filled 
with wretched men. Human beings have also by mil- 
lions gone down to their graves through excess in eating. 
But is taste a curse because men abuse it? and must it, 
therefore, be struck from the catalogue of Heaven's 
mercies ? All answer, no. Acquisitiveness, benevo- 
lence, and com 1 ); tiveness can be abused, and so can all 
the organs of the human brain. But ought they not on 
that account to be indulged ? 

Once more : there is not a greater blessing than the 
Gospel of Christ. It teaches us to love and forgive our 
enemies ; to resist not evil, and to do unto others as we 
would that they should do unto us. It is calculated to 
moderate our feelings in prosperity — to comfort us in 
the day of adversity — and to sustain us under all the 
troubles and disappointments incident to mortal life. 
When our parents, friends and children are on their 
dying bed, we can shake the farewell hand of mortal 
separation, with the hope of meeting them again in future 
realms. And not only so, but when we lie down upon 
the bed of death, and the embers of life feebly glimmer 
in the socket of existence, then the Gospel of Christ 
points us to brighter scenes — scenes beyond the tomb. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 05 

Yet men have abused that gospel, and one denomination 
has risen up against another, and doomed each other to 
the stake. Rivers of human blood have flowed in the 
holy wars. But is the gospel a curse, and should it be 
struck from existence merely because men abuse it? 
No, is the answer of every Christian heart. Then the 
objection fails. One thing must settle this point. There 
is nothing that God has established as a law in our na- 
ture, but what was designed to be a blessing to his 
creatures. The magnetic principle is not of man, but 
one the Creator has established, and is, therefore, a 
blessing. And if it could not be abused, it would dirTei 
from all other blessings he has bestowed on man. 

But it is said, that a man upon the high-way may be 
thrown into the state and robbed. But I deny that any 
person can be thrown into the state against his will, if 
he will at the same time use physical resistance. And 
when in the magnetic state, he has twice the strength to 
resist, and defend himself, that he has when out of it. 
"We generally know with whom we have to deal, and 
surely we would not suffer an enemy, nor the unprinci- 
pled, to put us into the mesmeric slumber. But if you 
wish to be safe, and are really fearful of consequences, 
I will give you a rule of action. It is this : never allow 
any one to magnetize you unless it be in the presence of 
a third person. Observe this rule, and no danger arising 
from this source will ever cross your path. 

Having answered these objections, I will now show 
you where there are real dangers. In the first place, 
though every person can bo mesmerized, yet there are 
but few who can be easily throw T n into this state. The 
greater proportion, by far, would require several hours 
of hard labor. Hence, when one is found who is easy 
6* 



00 LECTURES ON 

to mesmerize s curiosity is awakened, and every one 
wishes to make the trial of his power and skill.* One 

mesmerizes this individual in the morning, another in the 
evening, and a new set of operators perform the same 
task on the next day, and so on. Now, in such cases, 
there is that mixing and crossing of all these different 
fluids in the subject's brain, which, if persisted in too 
long, will prove injurious, even if all these magnetizers 
are healthy persons. If you mesmerize a person, and 
thoroughly wake him, yet the whole of that fluid does 
not completely pass from his brain short of a week. 
Select one healthy magnetizer, and continue him. If 
you change to another, then wait a fortnight before you 
allow him to operate. Too much care in this respect 
cannot be taken. But I point out to you a still more se- 
rious danger. 

There are persons who undertake to mesmerize others, 
who have some local disease, or are in feeble health. 
By so doing, they injure themselves, and also the sub- 
ject. Such persons have no nervo-vital fluid to spare, 
and what little they have is in a diseased state, and unfit 
to be thrown upon the nervous system of another. I 
care not what the disease may be, by long persisting in 
mesmerizing a person, that disease w 7 ill be, at length, 
communicated to the subject. Great caution, in this re- 
spect, should be observed by both parties, if they would 
not impair their health. Weakness of lungs, and even 
consumption, may be, by thirty or forty magnetizings, 
brought upon an individual, and send him to his grave. 

1 therefore seriously admonish you to beware of this 
common danger. Never allow any person of a poor 
constitution to put you into this state ; and I also warn 
those who are diseased, or even in delicate health, never 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 67 

to mesmerize others, for they will, by so doing, inflict 
upon themselves a serious injury. 

But, on the other hand, there is no danger in a healthy 
person magnetizing those who are diseased. As the 
operator imparts the nervo-vital fluid, and does not re- 
ceive any in return, he is in no danger of taking the dis- 
ease of his patient. Caution is, however, to be observed 
in taking the patient out of this state. He should not 
make the upward passes in such a manner as to throw 
the fluid on himself. If he do, he is in some danger of 
contracting the disease. An experienced magnetizer 
will understand how to avail himself of this caution. 

Once more : there are persons who undertake to mag- 
netize others who are entirely ignorant as to the mode 
of operat'on, and frequently bring persons into serious 
difficulty by getting alarmed, or otherwise thrown out 
of bias in their feelings. Several cases of this kind I 
have been called to attend to, in various sections, and 
some of a very serious character. No persons should 
undertake to mesmerize others until they shall have 
learned of some experienced magnetizer how to perform 
it, and made themselves acquainted with all the difficul- 
ties that may cluster around it. 

Having attended to these important points, I will now 
turn your attention to local magnetism. By local mag- 
netism, I mean the magnetizing of some part of the 
human body without charging the whole brain. Hence, 
the finger, the hand, the arm, the leg, yes, even the eye- 
lid, the lip, or the tongue, may be mesmerized while the 
person is in the wakeful state, and so may be any of the 
phrenological organs. It is true, that this cannot be so 
easily done on persons who have never been mesmerized 
at all, as on those who have been thrown into the state. 



66 LECTURES ON 

If the bruin has been once magnetically subdued, then 
there is no occasion, even if the amputation of a limb is 
to be performed, to magnetize any other part than the 
one to be subjected to the operation. If a person be 

very hard to mesmerize, then it will be proportionally 
difficult to mesmerize any limb. But it will be borne in 
mind, that however long it may take in successive sit- 
tings to magnetically subdue the brain, yet after that is 
once accomplished, then the person can, in future, be 
wholly mesmerized at any time in five minutes, and 
locally so in a much less period. Hence, should an arm 
be broken or mutilated, it will only be necessar; to put 
that limb into the magnetic state, and it can be set or 
amputated without pain; and thus, by occasionally re- 
newing the mesmeric action, it can be kept in this state 
and healed, without ever experiencing any suffering 
whatever. 

I perceive that some smile in view of these state- 
ments. They are truly so wonderful, that incredulity 
adjures us to reject them. But they are, nevertheless, 
Heaven's unchanging truths, which cannot bend to cir- 
cumstances, nor shape themselves to the belief cr scep- 
ticism of men. They stand out in bold relief, and bid 
defiance to the sneers and scorns of mankind. A surgi- 
cal operation has just been performed in Lowell on a 
lady while in the mesmeric state. A tumor was ex- 
tracted from the shoulder, where it was necessary to 
cut to the depth of two inches. Dr. Shattuck was the 
magnetizer ; and in the presence of several medical men 
of Lowell, one of whom was the operator, this tumor 
was removed without the slightest sensation of pain. 
This was not done in a corner, but publicly, and in the 
presence of several hundred spectators. It is too late 



ANI31AL MAGNETISM. (>9 

in the day to cry "humbug and collusion," for the bat- 
tle is fought, and the victory is won, and the scale has 
turned in favor of truth, and turned with most prepon- 
derating weight, and on the stereotyped argument 
" humbug and collusion," is written " TEKEL." 

Well authenticated facts, and medical reports of ope- 
rations in surgery and dentistry, performed under the 
energies of Mesmerism, in both continents, and without 
pain, are continually reaching us. And with this flood 
of light pouring upon the world, and when men of the 
first talents and science in the republic of letters, and 
out of all the various professions and denominations, are 
among its advocates, scepticism is not only waning, but 
justly losing its popularity. Those men have seriously 
investigated and weighed the matter, and they severally 
declare, as did the Rev. Mr. Pierpont, on the last eve- 
ning, before two thousand hearers, in this house, " I have 
no belief nor unbelief on this subject. I know, I 
KNOW it to be so !" And now I ask, what ought the 
mere opinion, or the expressed unbelief of even an 
honest sceptic, to weigh against the absolute and certain 
knowledge of an equally honest, intelligent, and scienti- 
fic man, whose character is above suspicion ? I leave 
the candid to judge, and have only to say, that in the 
face of modesty, they have no right to call this science 

" HUMBUG AND COLLUSION." 

Others pretend that the science of Animal Magnetism 
was condemned by the French Committee in Paris, 
among whom our illustrious Franklin was numbered. 
And as it received its condemnation under the scrutiny 
of such minds, therefore they conclude that it has no 
foundation in truth There always have been, and still 
are, men who dare i.ot think for themselves, but wholly 



70 LECTURES ON 

lean upon the opinions of others. Their father, their. 
doctor, their lawyer, and their minister, thought tlwas and 
so, and they think just so, too. Their fathers put down 
a central stake, gave them their length of line, and bid 
them travel round in that circle of revolving thought 
till the day of their death ! All beyond that circle is 
darkness ! Their field of thought is as exactly measured 
off to them, and just as legally bequeathed to them, as 
their farms. They received them both by inheritance. 
For the one they never labored, and for the other they 
never thought ! And they never questioned the truth 
of the one, any more than they did their title to the 
other ! 

But surely the French Committee did not deny the 
truth of the experiments produced, nor pronounce them 
" humbug and collusion." They simply decided that the 
evidence adduced was not sufficient to prove that the 
magnetic state was caused by a fluid proceeding from 
the magnetizer. They attributed the singular effects 
they witnessed to the power of the imagination. But it 
will also be remembered, that this committee were not 
all agreed, and hence appeared the remonstrance of the 
minority, which it would be well for modern sceptics to 
read, side by side with the report. 

Many sceptics have been obliged, like the French 
Committee, to admit certain results as being truly won- 
derful, and, like them, attribute it to the force of the 
imagination. But to believe that the imagination can 
bring human beings into a state where limbs can be am- 
putated, tumors cut out, teeth extracted, and broken 
bones set, and the whole healed without experiencing 
one throb of pain — to believe, I say, that the imagina- 
tion can do all these wonders, in giving such boundless 



AMMAL MAGNETISM. 71 

triumph over pain, requires a far greater stretch of cre- 
dulity than to believe in the magnetic power! And 
surely if the imagination possesses the wonderful charm 
to bring the nervous system into a condition where we 
can bid defiance to pain, and gain a complete victory 
over the whole frightful army of human woes, then surely 
the science is equally important, possesses the same 
transcendent claims upon our benevolence, and the man 
who discovered that the imagination possessed this 
charm is worthy of the united thanks of all human-kind ; 
and being dead, his bones are worthy to repose with the 
great men of the universe. In this case it will only be 
necessary to change its name, and call it — The science 

OF THE WONDERFUL POWER OF THE HUMAN IMAGINATION 
TO CHARM ALL PAIN. 



72 LECTURES UN 



LECTURE VI. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : In the first four lectures I 
delivered of the present course, I brought forward the 
philosophy of Mesmerism, and flatter myself that I have 
not onlv succeeded in establishing it as a science, but 
have shown it to be one of transcendent interest to the 
human race. Here love and benevolence stretch out a 
healing hand over a world groaning and travailing in 
pain. Those groans, by that silken hand, shall be 
hushed, and those pains be removed. There is a powei 
basined up in the fountains of the soul, that has long 
been dormant. But it is rousing up and stirring itself for 
some mighty action, and is already beginning to gush 
forth in healing streams on the world. This science is 
in its infancy, is imperfectly understood, but yet it 
breathes the breath of mercy as a sovereign cure for 
all human woes. 

In my last lecture, I answered several notes of 
inquiry, pointed out the dangers of Magnetism, refuted 
several common objections in relation to its abuses, 
noticed the utility of the science in performing painful 
surgical operations, and took a friendly glance at the 
conduct of men in justifying their scepticism by pleading 
the general issue of the Report of the French Com- 
mittee, and concluded by touching lightly upon the 
power of the human imagination. 

I now stand before you in the confident conviction 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 73 

that much good will result from my labors to the cause 
of benevolence and mercy. I am urged to repeat my 
course of lectures next week, but it will be out of my 
power to comply with this request at tha' time, but have 
consented to do so, week after next. As this will be 
my closing lecture for the present, I can render you no 
greater service than to show what connection this sub- 
ject has with divine revelation. I am well aware that 
many will call me an enthusiast, and sneer at, and con- 
demn me for thinking independently. But when the 
path of duty is plain, and when I am once satisfied of 
truth, I then go on, and reason, fearless of all conse- 
quences. Under such circumstances, I have nothing to 
do with the inquiry, what will men think of me? I care 
not what they think, and much less do I care what they 
say. I suffer no man to invade the sanctuary of my 
civil and religious rights, and dictate to me how I shall 
think, or what I shall believe, or what I shall proclaim. 
I therefore hold no one responsible for what I shall 
advance in this lecture, nor do I know as there is one, 
with whom I am connected, who will endorse my ideas. 
I believe the doctrine of our Saviour to be a perfect 
doctrine, and exactly adapted to the bodies as well as 
to the souls of men. I believe that he is our example to 
follow, and as he went about doing good, healing sick- 
ness, and relieving distress of body, as well as preaching 
the gospel to heal the moral maladies of the soul, so it 
is our duty to do the same. It is, moreover, most evi 
dent that his doctrine, to the full extent he commanded 
his apostles to preach it, was to go down to all subse- 
quent ages, so long as human beings should have a 
habitation on earth. And our Saviour just as much com- 
manded his apostles to heal the sick, as he did to preach 
7 



7-1 LECTURES ON 

the gospel. Now 1 cannot believe that one half of the 

power and mere)' of his dodtrine should eease with the 
ministry of his apostles, and the other hall' continue. I 

:annot believe that its healing efficacy, so far as the 
body is concerned, should eease, and what was applica- 
ble to the soul should continue. If this be so, then what 
a favored generation of Christians existed in that day, 
so far, at least, as healing the body was concerned. It 
was said, in the apostolic age, "Is any man sick, let him 
send for the elders of the church, and let them lay their 
hands upon him and pray, and the sick shall recover." 
I believe this now, and so far as we have power and 
faith, it can be accomplished now as well as ever. 
There is a difference between a miracle and a gift of 
: healing. If an arm be palsied, we know that the diffi- 
culty exists in the brain, and that nothing more is neces- 
sary than to throw upon it a sufficient quantity of the 
nervous fluid to bring it into healthy action. The 
moment this is accomplished, the difficulty existing in 
the arm, which is but secondary, will be rel eved. To 
restore this, would be a gift of healing, but not a 
miracle. What, then, would be a miracle? Answer: 
amputate an arm, and then cause a new one to grow 
out. Though healing diseases is sometimes called a 
miracle, yet when speaking of them specifically, they 
are not so denominated. Paul says, "God hath set some 
in the church ; first, apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; 
thirdly, teachers ; after that, miracles, then gifts of heal- 
ings, helps, governments," etc. And there is not a 
scrap of evidence that these things were ever to cease 
while the generations of men endured. 

. Now if our Saviour restored a palsied arm, then there 
must something have passed from him to the person 



w 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 



75 



healed, in perfect accordance with the principles of ani- 
mal life. It must, therefore, in this case, have been the 
nervous fluid, as this was the only substance that could 
have restored this arm. 

It is undeniably true, that there was always some- 
thing passed from our Saviour, when he exercised the 
gift of healing, to the person whom he restored. In 
evidence of this, you will recollect, that on one occasion, 
when he was called to visit a sick person, a multitude 
followed after, and thronged him. As he passed by, a 
woman, who had been afflicted with an issue of blood 
for twelve years, touched the hem of his garment, and 
was made whole. He turned himself around, and said, 
" Who touched me ?" His disciples exclaimed, " Master, 
the multitude throng thee, and say est thou, ' Who 
touched me?' But he perceived that virtue had gone 
out of him." The word virtue, in this instance, does 
not mean moral goodness. It means force, power, 
efficacy ; the same as when we^ say a medicine has 
great virtue* in it. 

Our Saviour so lived, and breathed, and moved in the 
divine Being, that he became one in communication 
with him ; so that when the Father willed, he felt that 
will — He himself then willed, and it was accomplished. 
So, if any one bowed in reconciliation to God, he 
became one with the Saviour, so that the Redeemer, 
also, felt that one's will. Such was the case of this 
woman. " She willed in faith to be healed. The Saviour 
felt that will — He willed, and it was done. Now every 
being has power in proportion to the energy of his own 
will ; but the energy of the will, depends upon the 
intrinsic greatness of that being's mind. And as a 
miracle is a thing performed by the energy of the will, 



A v 



■r'' 



tf 






\ o> 



f 



7G LECTURES ON 

so that mind must be great in power and goodness, 
that is capable of performing a miracle. We sit down, 
and put forth the energy of a thousand wills, and at last 
produce but a small result. 

The apostolic power was far greater, and in the same 
ratio, their results were more splendid and glorious. 
But still they had not the power of Christ. The leper 
said, " Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 
Jesus stretched forth his hand, and touched him, and 
said, I will, be thou clean, and his leprosy was 
cleansed." By a word, he put to right disabled limbs, 
and drew back life and warm gushing health to their 
abode. He put forth a greater energy — and said to the 
winds and waves, Peace ! be still ! His will fastened 
upon electricity in the heavens, equalized that fluid 
hushed the winds, and calmed the waves. He opened 
the blind eye to the splendor of the noon-tide blaze, and 
instantly penciled on its retina, the universe. He 
opened the deaf ear, and poured into its once silent, but 
now vocal chambers, the harmony of rejoicing nature. 
He spoke, and the dead stirred in their graves, and rose 
up from their icy beds before him, and walked. That 
same dread voice shall speak with a living energy, that 
the very heavens shall hear, and the dead shall rise to 
die no more, and turn their eyes from the dark, ruinable 
tomb on the scenes of eternity ! Mind and will in the 
Creator, still more increased, move unnumbered worlds. 
That same will, now infinite ^nd immutable, puts forth 
creative energy. He spake, and it w T as done ; He com- 
manded, and it stood fast ; laid the measures thereof, 
arid stretched the line upon it when the morning stars 
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. 
Hence, every grade of mind, from the humblest up to 



„ 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 77 

apostolic greatness ; up to angel and archangel, cheru- 1 
bim and seraphim ; up to Jesus Christ, till it reach the 
infinite Jehovah, has power proportionate to its great- 
ness and goodness. Hence, it will be readily under- 
stood, that a miracle is nothing more than a result pro- 
duced by mind itself, independent of all physical energy, 
except that one substance which is put into motion by 
the living mind. 

It may perhaps be said, that the apostles were inspired ^4 
to heal, and as we are not inspired, therefore we do not 
possess the gift to heal. On this principle I might 
reply, that the apostles were inspired to preach, and as 
we are not inspired, therefore, w r e have no gift to 
preach ! I grant that the apostles w r ere inspired to 
preach and to heal, because it was not possible, that at 
the starting point, they had any other means for pre- 
paration. But now men preach, not by inspiration, but 
because they feel it to be their duty. So men must now 
heal because they feel it to be their duty. 

It is by no means to be expected that we can come 
up, at once, to apostolic power. No ; our faith is too 
weak. But let us bring up our children in the faith as 
we ought, and they will learn to mesmerize as naturally 
as they learn to walk. Their concentrativeness will 
become largely developed. Their children will.be born 
with more favorably developed heads, and become 
greater in goodness, until at length the whole apostolic 
power will return to the earth in all its primitive splen- 
dor. It is Spiritualism, because it is the innate power 
of the living mind, executed through the agency of the 
will. It is that power which created worlds, for this 
was done by the will of God. It is that power by which 
world? are governed, and creatures ruled, for this is 




78 LECTURES ON 

also done by the will of God. It is that power by 
which we make impressions reciprocally upon each 
other, for this is done by the will of man. And lastly, 
it is "that power which shall awake the dead from 
dreamless slumber into thoughts of heaven," for this w r ill 
be done by the will of God, and there is no medium, 
only electricity, through which he can come in contact 
with his creatures. 

I will now bring forward a few cases from Scripture, 
to show that the living have been thrown into a singular 
slumber by the very presence of immortal beings. In- 
deed, there is scarcely an instance where angels have 
appeared to men, but w r hat it has had this effect. I will 
bring forward those that first strike my mind, regardless 
of their arrangement. 

It will be remembered, that when John the Revelator 
was in the isle of Patmos, he had this vision : " And 
being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in 
the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the 
Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, 
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head 
and his hair were white like wool ; as white as snow, 
and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 
unto fine brass as if they had been burned in a furnace, 
and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he 
had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth 
went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance 
was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I 
saw him I fell down at his feet as one that is dead." 
Here then, is a singular slumber approximating death. 

Our Saviour, when he was transfigured on Mount 
Tabor, took Peter, James, and John with him. For a 
moment he was changed into his resurrection splendor, 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 79 

and met Moses and Elias in glory. The sacred his- 
torian, in describing the scene, says, " And his face did 
shine as the sun, and his raiment became shining, ex- 
ceeding white as snow, white as the light, so as no fuller 
on earth can white them, and there appeared unto them 
Moses and Elias talking with him. And Peter and them 
that were with him w r ere heavy with sleep ; and Peter 
said, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us build 
here three tabernacles ; one for thee, one for Moses, 
and one for Elias; not knowing what he said." That is, 
when he came out of this sleep he did not recollect 
what he had said. They were thrown into this state by 
the very presence of these minds. 

Do you remember that after our Lord had eaten his 
valedictory supper with his disciples, he went into the 
garden of Gethsemane, and commanded them to watch? 
He w r ent a few steps from them and prayed in agony, 
and sweat as it were drops of blood falling to the 
ground. The guardian angel of Jesus Christ appeared 
from heaven strengthening him. The apostles fell into 
a deep sleep. Though this was a scene of great interest 
to them, yet it seems that the presence of this angel 
thus affected them. 

He was nailed to the cross between two malefactors, 
to darken his glory and blot his name. The Jews were 
nis accusers, and the Romans his executioners. Hence, 
the world was combined against him, while his own 
disciples forsook him in that dark hour of peril. The 
universe thus combined against him, mocking and de- 
riding him, and covering him with disgrace, even nature 
herself stepped forward as it were, and with a mighty 
hand wiped off that disgrace, and sustained him in his 
majesty. The sun withdrew his light, rolled back his 



SO LECTURES ON 

chariot, midnight darkness spread her robe of sack- 
cloth upon his brilliant disc, and hung the world in the 
dark shroud of mourning. Earthquakes awoke from 
their tartarean dens and thundered. The earth shook, 
the rocks rent, the graves opened, all nature roused up 
and there brought to a centre all that is grand, awful, and 
sublime in her realms, as the magnanimous sufferer ex- 
pired ! He was conveyed to his tomb, and Roman sol- 
diers were there stationed to guard it. Soldiers whose 
business it was to die, — who had been brought up in 
tented fields of war, and who had from childhood en- 
countered hardships and toils, fatigues and dangers. 
They were men, who had often bared their bosoms to 
the shafts of battle, and undismayed listened to its stormy 
voice, and who knew not what it was to quail beneath 
the glance of a mortal eye. Such men as these, were 
stationed to guard that tomb, and hold the Prince of Life 
in death. But — 

" An angel's arm can't snatch him from the grave ; 
Legions of angels can't confine him there." 

On the morning of the third day, the last grand scene 
in this interesting drama was opened. The guardian 
angel of Jesus Christ was once more dispatched from 
the eternal throne. He descended from heaven, and an 
earthquake shook creation. He approached the tomb 
of the Holy Sleeper, and stood before it. " He rolled 
back the stone from the door of the sepulchre and sa£ 
upon it. His countenance was like the lightning, and 
his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him, the 
keepers did shake, and become as dead men !" 

What, I ask, was it that threw them into this slumber, 
with feelings of a cold shuddering fear, so nigh ap- 
proaching the dead / I answer, it was the will of this 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 81 

angel, whose countenance was like the lightning, that 
sunk them into a motionless sleep. It was his will 
which struck the vibrations of terror through the dark 
chambers of their souls, and withered them to the earth. 

I should like to notice the circumstance of Paul being 
caught up into the third heavens — whether out of the 
body or in the body, he could not tell — of Peter falling 
into a trance when he went upon the house-top to pray, 
and of Zacharias being struck dumb in the temple ; but 
time will not permit. 

I close, by returning my sincere thanks to the Modera- 
tors, for the good order they have preserved ; to the 
various Committees, for their patient examinations and 
impartial reports of the experiments performed ; and to 
the ladies and gentlemen, for their faithful attendance 
and respectful attention, and also for the good feelings 
they have uniformly manifested towards the lecturer 
during the entire course, which is now brought to a 
termination. 



THE SOUL TUB SEAT OF PAIX. 



NOTE. FROM CHANNING. 



"We are created with a susceptibility of pain, and 
severe pain. This is a part of our nature, as truly as 
our susceptibility of enjoyment. God has implanted it, 
and has thus opened in the very centre of our being a 
fountain of suffering. We carry it within us, and can 
no more escape it than we can our power of thought. 
We are apt to throw our pains on outward things as 
their causes. It is the fire, the sea, the sword, or human 
enmity, which gives us pain. But there is no pain in the 
fire or the sword, which passes thence into our souls. 
The pain begins and ends in the soul itself. Outward 
things are only the occasions. Even the body has no 
pain in it, which it infuses into the mind. Of itself, it is 
incapable of suffering. This hand may be cracked, 
crushed -te the rack of the inquisitor, and that burnt in a 
slow fire ; but in these cases it is not the fibres, the 
blood-vessels, the bories of the hand which endure pain. 
These are merely connected, by the will of the ■■■■Creator, 
with the springs of pain in the soul. Here, here is the 
only origin and seat of suffering. If God so willed, the 
gashing of the flesh with a knife, the piercing of the 
heart with a dagger, might be the occasion of exquisite 
delight. We know that, in the heat of battle, a wound 
is not felt, and that men, dying for their faith by instru- 
ments of torture, have expired with triumph on their lips. 
In these cases, the spring of suffering in the mind is not 
touched by the lacerations of the body, in consequence 
of the absorbing action of other principles of the soul. 
All suffering is to be traced to the susceptibility, the ca- 
pacity of pain, which belongs to our nature, and which 
the Creator has implanted ineradicably within us." 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 









***** 

4 






%*JUrli 



